Reuters

The attorney for Vikings running back Adrian Peterson says the Houston Police Department had no valid reason to arrest Peterson on Saturday, when they arrested him and charged him with resisting arrest, but not with any other offense.

Attorney Rusty Hardin told Mike Florio (who’s filling in on the Dan Patrick Show today) that it’s baffling that Peterson would be charged with resisting arrest when the police still haven’t said what Peterson did to deserve an arrest in the first place.

“That’s because there wasn’t anything to arrest him for, and that goes right to the heart of everything,” Hardin said. “There was no basis for it. . . . He wasn’t doing anything to merit an arrest.”

Peterson particularly takes issue with the allegation from the police that Peterson pushed an off-duty police officer. Hardin said Peterson’s defense team has interviewed six witnesses, all of whom side with Peterson.

“Adrian never pushed or hit a police officer or shoved him or did anything,” Hardin said.

Hardin said Peterson is hoping his fans will give him the benefit of the doubt, given his reputation as a good guy off the field.

“This kind of conduct they’re suggesting is so totally inconsistent with Adrian’s history,” Hardin said. “He has been very careful over the years to conduct himself in a way that no one would think he would do something like this.”

Ultimately, Hardin said, Peterson isn’t interested in just paying a quick fine and getting the whole thing over with. Peterson wants to be completely exonerated.

“He wants everybody to make sure they understand he didn’t do this,” Hardin said.

Demonstrating that he didn’t do it will probably be more time consuming and more expensive than just making it go away quietly, but Peterson is determined to make sure everyone hears his side of the story. And his side is that he did nothing wrong.