Man Accused in Peterson Case Has a History of Violence

Published on 12-Oct-2013 by Stacey Mickles

Football - NFL    NFL Daily Update

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Man Accused in Peterson Case Has a History of Violence

More information is coming out about the man accused of beating Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson's son to death.

According to reports, Joseph Robert Patterson, the man in the center of this case, had been charged before with the aggravated assault on an infant. 

Patterson has a prior domestic abuse record with a different woman and child and pleaded guilty to simple assault in an incident last year involving an adult female and juvenile male.

The woman in the other case said that Patterson spanked her child so hard for misbehaving in church that it left marks on him.

The mother of Patterson's son also said he beat her up, held a knife to her throat, and threatened her life.

She filed protection orders against him but decided to drop them in 2010 and 2011. However, he assaulted her again in 2012. He also got in trouble in 2004 with another female.

You have to wonder if the mother of his child had filed charges against him, this tragedy would have been averted.

Peterson made another statement on Twitter thanking people for their support:

"Thank you to my family, my fans and fans of other teams for their support.The NFL is a fraternity of brothers and I am thankful for the tweets, phone calls and text messages from my fellow players God Bless everyone and thank u so much."