Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back suspended last year after he admitted beating his young son with a switch, is free to play again after the NFL Players Association succeeded in its bid to have his suspension vacated.
In November, Peterson was suspended without pay for the rest of the season, having been found to have violated the NFL’s personal conduct for “abusive discipline he inflicted on his four-year-old son”. Under the ban, which in December was upheld by an arbitrator, Peterson was not due to be eligible for reinstatement until 15 April.
The star running back is now an active player again, eligible to re-sign with the Vikings or be traded – stoking rich off-season rumours including links to Dallas and Washington. The NFL, however, could appeal against the decision. The league made no comment on Thursday, other than to say it was reviewing the situation.
In a Minneapolis hearing, US district court judge David Doty agreed with the NFLPA that the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, had been wrong to suspend Peterson under a personal conduct policy that was not in place when his misdemeanour occurred. Amid extensive bad press about incidents of domestic violence involving players, the NFL said in October it would institute a new personal conduct policy.
The NFLPA issued a statement, in which it said: “This is a victory for the rule of law, due process and fairness.
“Our collective bargaining agreement has rules for implementation of the personal conduct policy and when those rules are violated, our union always stands up to protect our players’ rights. This is yet another example why neutral arbitration is good for our players, good for the owners and good for our game.”
In November another star running back, the former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice, also won an appeal against a ban imposed by the NFL over a case of domestic violence. In that case a former federal judge agreed with Rice that he had wrongly been punished twice for the same offence.
Peterson was indicted on felony child abuse charges in Texas over an incident in May 2014, in which he hit his son with a stick, causing physical injury. He subsequently agreed a deal with prosecutors, which involved payment of a fine and the performance of community service.
After being suspended, Peterson said he had changed his ways.
Speaking to USA Today, he said: “I won’t ever use a switch [a tree branch stripped of its leaves] again. There’s different situations where a child needs to be disciplined as far as timeout, taking their toys away, making them take a nap. There’s so many different ways to discipline your kids.”
