Bachelor father Adrian Peterson would not tell ESPN the number of children he has brought into the world.
In an "E: 60" segment with ESPN's Lisa Salters that aired Tuesday, the face of the Vikings' franchise spoke publicly for the first time in depth about the tragic death of his 2-year-old in South Dakota.
Prosecutors indicted a Sioux Falls man Monday on second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the death of Ty Robert Ruffin. Investigators say the accused 27-year-old, who allegedly assaulted the toddler Oct. 9, was the boyfriend of the child's mother.
Salters reported that Peterson first learned of Ty's existence in August but didn't see the tot until after receiving that fateful October phone call. "I still haven't been able to wrap my head around it," Peterson said.
"I was able to see him being … " Peterson told ESPN, not completing the thought about what he observed at Ty's hospital bedside.
"That was my first time. So that's something I have to live with for the rest of my life. First time seeing my son, he was gone, basically.
"I just said I was sorry. Didn't quite know, at the time, what I was sorry for, but I told him I loved him, you know, and that I miss him; I'm going to miss him. I kept telling him 'I'm sorry.' "
Peterson was speaking indistinctly. I believe he also said he told his son, " 'Daddy was sorry.' "