Adrian Peterson: "I am not a child abuser"

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Adrian Peterson has issued a statement after being charged with child abuse and says he is "sorry about the hurt I have brought to my child."

Peterson issued his statement on Monday a few hours after the Minnesota Vikings reinstated him to the team. Peterson was charged last weekend after he struck his 4-year-old son with a tree branch as a form of discipline earlier this summer.

"I am not a perfect son. I am not a perfect husband. I am not a perfect parent, but I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser," Peterson said in a nearly 500-word statement (scroll down to read the full text) issued through his agency. "I am someone that disciplined his child and did not intend to cause him any injury.

"No one can understand the hurt that I feel for my son and for the harm I caused him. My goal is always to teach my son right from wrong and that's what I tried to do that day."

Peterson's first court appearance in Texas, originally scheduled for Wednesday, has been delayed until Oct. 8 because his attorney, Rusty Hardin, is out of the country this week.

But he did release a statement Monday night in response to a report by CBS Houston that says Peterson had allegedly abused another one of his children.

"The allegation of another investigation into Adrian Peterson is simply not true. The allegation is more than one year old and authorities took no action," Hardin said. "An adult witness admittedly insists Adrian did nothing inappropriate with his son."

Hardin issued an earlier statement on Friday saying his client acknowledged striking his son as a form of discipline similar to what Peterson endured as a young boy growing up in Palestine, Texas. He said Peterson was cooperating with the investigation and did not mean to inflict any harm on his son.

The NFL is looking into Peterson's case, and if convicted he could face a minimum six-game suspension under the league's new tougher domestic abuse policy that was implemented after Commissioner Roger Goodell admitted he botched Rice's initial punishment.

The Vikings' decision to reinstate Peterson comes on the same day the NFL announced that three experts in domestic violence will serve as senior advisers to the league. Goodell sent a memo to teams Monday announcing that Lisa Friel, Jane Randel and Rita Smith will "help lead and shape the NFL's policies and programs relating to domestic violence and sexual assault."

The Peterson case was a hot topic on TV and radio shows Sunday.

Charles Barkley was a guest on CBS' "The NFL Today," and the former basketball player-turned-NBA analyst sympathized with Peterson and defended the former MVP's behavior.

"I'm from the South," Barkley said. "Whipping -- we do that all the time. Every black parent in the south is going to be in jail under those circumstances ... We spank kids in the South.

"I think the question about did Adrian Peterson go overboard," he added. "We all grow up in different environments. Every black parent in my neighborhood in the south would be in trouble or in jail under those circumstances ... We called it 'spanking' or 'whipping' our kids."

But former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason was critical of Barkley's assessment of Peterson and reiterated his stance on Monday on a radio talk show.

"I don't buy [upbringing] as an excuse. Peterson is 6'1″, 220 pounds talking about hitting his 4-year-old son with what is known as a switch. I never even heard of that until the other night. It's a tree branch that parents use to whip kids. I found it so reprehensible. I got emotional about it and was very intense about it. It's no excuse in my eyes," he said.

Peterson posted his full statement on Twitter: