Ex-coach Mike McQueary Talks About his Ban from Penn State Facilities After Jerry Sandusky Child Abuse Scandal
Mike McQueary, the former Pennsylvania State assistant football coach talked on Friday about his ban from football facilities of school after Jerry Sandusky was charged with the child molestation in 2011.
According to the associated press report, McQueary said during his testament as part of the lawsuit he filed against the school that he doesn’t get why he was asked to stay away from the program.
McQueary testified, “They tell me, the guy who turned in a pedophile, (to stay away from team facilities). And they let him go around there for years after they knew about it not once but twice. That gets me. That does not make sense to me. It’s wrong”.
In 2011 November, Penn State announced McQueary wouldn’t serve as wide receivers coach of the team for a game against Nebraska because he’d received multiple threats after his evidence helped lead to the charges against Sandusky.
David Jones of PennLive.com said that McQueary told players that he would not be their coach following the announcement of the school that he was placed on administrative leave.
McQueary says he was eyewitness while Sandusky was sexually abusing a boy in 2001 in a team shower & reported it to Joe Paterno, then-head coach, and two administrators. His testimony helped charge Sandusky of 45 times child abuse in 2012, however, he hasn’t been able to find a job.
McQueary talked to the assessors he felt that his status with the program was in trouble after Sandusky was charged with molestation, & two high-ranking school officials were also charged with perjury and couldn’t properly report the suspected child abuse.
He said that the only university official who offered him the words of encouragement at that time was Paterno. He reported an exchange they had on practice field shortly before Paterno was fired by the school’s trustees.
He said that the aging coach told McQueary he didn’t do anything wrong & warned him not to trust the administration. McQueary said, “He specifically said, ‘Make sure you have a lawyer. You’re all right. You didn’t do anything wrong.’ He was very, the word I wasn’t to use is, unselfish, about all of it”.
McQueary saw Sandusky with the boy in the shower, slamming his locker door shut in 2001. He didn’t say anything, physically intervene or inform the police, but he did contact Paterno next day.
He testified, “I think of the concerns perhaps in the very first minute is, Who’s going to believe me? Who’s is going to believe when I tell them that Jerry Sandusky was doing this? I didn’t know if anyone would believe me. And to this credit, Coach Paterno did believe me”.
Mike McQueary is seeking for four million USD in a lawsuit against Penn State, saying the school defamed him, & misled him to think his report against Sandusky child abuse would be properly handled.