The Minnesota Vikings’ all-time leading rusher, Adrian Peterson, is again in trouble with the law. On Thursday afternoon, arrest warrants were issued in Texas for the 39-year-old. According to USA Today, Peterson, the 2012 NFL MVP and record holder for most rushing yards in a single game, reportedly failed to attend court in two separate child support cases, leading to warrants being issued for his arrest.
Peterson’s publicist released a statement saying the entire situation was a misunderstanding and that Peterson is “actively working with his legal team to resolve this matter.”
The former NFL superstar has had a history of run-ins with the law that date back to his playing days in Minnesota. In 2014, Peterson missed 15 games after being placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List after being charged with reckless and negligent injury to a child. The league later suspended him for the duration of the NFL season. He pled no contest to child assault of his, at the time, four-year-old son with a tree branch, which led to him only playing one game during the 2014-2015 season.
Peterson’s legal troubles continued after he stepped away from football. In 2022, he was arrested for an altercation with his wife on an airplane. However, according to his wife, charges were later dropped because the altercation was “just an argument. ” Additionally, in September, he was ordered to turn over personal assets to pay off nearly $12 million in bank loans and personal debt that he failed to pay. The payment stemmed from a 5.2 million dollar business loan Peterson took out but never paid off.
While Peterson’s storied NFL career will undoubtedly land him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, someday, his off-the-field decisions have continued to keep him in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
