Star Tribune: Hennepin County Seeking “Protection” for Adrian Peterson’s Child

According to the Star Tribune, Hennepin County is seeking protection for Adrian Peterson’s child:

Hennepin County filed a court petition Friday seeking protection forAdrian Peterson’s 4-year-old son after his alleged abuse by the Vikings running back.

The petition asked a judge to approve a safety plan for the child, including that Peterson not have any unsupervised or unauthorized contact with the child, and that he cannot use any “corporal punishment and/or physical discipline.”

The county also asked for any proceedings in the child protection matter be postponed until Peterson’s criminal charges are resolved.

The child’s mother has been “fully cooperative” with Hennepin County child protection and has not allowed any contact between Peterson and the boy, following a request made by the county, the petition said.

According to the petition, Peterson admitted during interviews with child protection and law enforcement authorities in Texas that he twice hit his 4-year-old son, once with a belt and once with a switch.

The belt detail is new to me (the child in previous interviews with the police referenced the belts, but this is the first I’ve heard Peterson mention them), but nothing is out of the ordinary here. The mother has cooperated with the request. According to Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman, this was automatically triggered as part of an investigation:

“State law requires us to file an action in child protection court when charges are filed in criminal court alleging serious injuries against a child living in Hennepin County,” Freeman said. “Our own internal investigation has revealed that the injuries were serious enough to meet the legal threshold and, as a result, we have filed a Child in Need of Protection and Services petition (CHIPS) in Hennepin County District Court this afternoon. Due to state privacy laws, as well as the understandable desire of the mother to protect her child’s privacy, we will not comment further on this petition.”

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