Adrian Peterson, a former Minnesota Vikings running back, was indicted in September 2014 on charges of child abuse. The indictment alleged that he had used a wooden switch to discipline his 4-year-old son.
The incident came to light when the boy's mother took him to hospital with bruises on his thighs, buttocks, lower back and genitals. Peterson told authorities that he was disciplining his son in the way he had been disciplined as a child.
Peterson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of reckless assault in November 2014 and was sentenced to two years' probation. In 2015, he was suspended from the NFL for six games after pleading no contest to a felony charge of injury to a child.