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| Allison Joyce/Getty Images Roger Goodell and the NFL agreed this summer to pay out more than the $675 million for player awards agreed to in the concussion settlemen |
Read it at ESPN:
Almost three in ten retired professional football players will face moderate to severe neurocognitive problems resulting from concussions, an actuary for the ex-athletes has found.
The data was prepared for use in a lawsuit against the National Football League brought by retired players and their families, which may be settled for a proposed sum of $765 million. According to that data, retired players are at twice the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, moderate dementia, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), and Parkinson’s disease than the general population between ages 20 and 60. That means almost 6,000 will develop either Alzheimer's or moderate dementia, for instance. Some 28 percent of players are expected to qualify for a reward from the settlement if it's approved.
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Read it at Houston CBS Local
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was reportedly indicted for reckless or negligent injury to a child in North Montgomery County, Texas. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Peterson, who has been named First-Team All-Pro three times and has played in six Pro Bowls, missed team practice Thursday. Vikings Coach Mike Zimmer said it was for a "veteran's day." Peterson’s attorney, Rustin Hardin, released a statement Friday afternoon that acknowledged the indictment and Peterson's use of a switch to discipline his 4-year-old son, which left cuts and bruises on the boy's legs, back, buttocks, ankles, scrotum, and hands. "Adrian is a loving father who used his judgment as a parent to discipline his son," Hardin said. "He used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in east Texas. Adrian has never hidden from what happened. He has cooperated fully with authorities and voluntarily testified before the grand jury for several hours. Adrian will address the charges with the same respect and responsiveness he has brought to this inquiry from the beginning. It is important to remember that Adrian never intended to harm his son and deeply regrets the unintentional injury."
According to police reports, the child told authorities that “Daddy Peterson hit me on my face” and was worried that Peterson would punch him in the face if he reported the beating to authorities. The child also said that he had been hit by a belt, that “there are a lot of belts in Daddy’s closet,” and that Peterson put leaves in his mouth when he was being hit. The child told his mother that Peterson “likes belts and switches” and “has a whooping room.”
Another of Peterson's sons, 2-year-old son Tyrese, was killed last year, allegedly by his mother's live-in boyfriend at the time, Joseph Robert Patterson. Patterson was freed on bail last October but arrested again in June on kidnapping and assault charges against Tyrese's mother. Patterson still faces child abuse and murder charges for the boy's death. Peterson has said that he learned only two months prior to the boy's death that he was his father and had planned on visiting to meet him.
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| Ray Rice at a news conference with his wife, Janay, on May 23. Rice was initially suspended for two games by the N.F.L. before the Ravens terminated his contract on Monday. Credit Patrick Semansky/Associated Press |
N.Y. TIMES
The National Football League’s handling of a domestic violence case is under renewed scrutiny after a graphic video emerged Monday, leading to the termination of the Baltimore Ravens star running back Ray Rice’s contract and his suspension from the league.
The video shows Rice punching his fiancée, who is now his wife, in the face, leaving her motionless on the floor of a hotel elevator in Atlantic City in February. He then dragged her unconscious body from the elevator.
Rice was charged with felony assault in March, but his wife, Janay Palmer, declined to testify. The charges were dropped and court-supervised counseling was ordered. Roger Goodell, the N.F.L. commissioner, disciplined Rice in July with a two-game suspension, a penalty that was widely criticized as too lenient.
Previously published video of the altercation was taken from a camera outside the elevator and showed only the moments after Rice hit Palmer. But the emergence of the new video, published by the website TMZ, raised questions about what the N.F.L. knew, and when. A league spokesman said “no one in our office has seen it until today,” but he did not respond to inquiries about whether any of the league’s investigators who do not work in the office had previously seen the video.