(CNN) — Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson learned Tuesday he will be suspended without pay for the rest of the 2014 NFL season, according to an NFL statement. Peterson intends to appeal.
Peterson will not be reinstated before April 15 because he violated the league’s personal conduct policy “in an incident of abusive discipline that he inflicted on his four-year-old son last May,” the league said.
Peterson has been on the exempt/commissioner’s permission list — which kept him off the field, with pay — since September after allegations he disciplined his son too harshly with a “switch” or thin stick. Initially charged with felony child abuse, Peterson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless assault this month.
