Mike McQueary, the Penn State assistant coach who described visual details to a grand jury and police of Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulting a young boy in a locker-room shower in 2002, told a different version of the event to a family friend shortly afterward, The Patriot-News has reported. Â Read more after the jump.
McQueary left Penn State’s campus and went to his father’s house for advice immediately after the incident involving Sanudusky, the former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator who stands charged with sexually abusing at least 10 boys.
That is when McQueary told Dr. Jonathan Dranov, a family friend and colleague of McQueary’s father, that he had heard “sex sounds” and a running shower before a young boy peered around the corner of the shower’s stall, the Harrisburg, Pa., newspaper reported Sunday morning, citing a source with knowledge of Dranov’s testimony before the grand jury that brought the charges.
McQueary, a receivers coach who remains on administrative leave, said he then saw an adult arm reach around the boy’s waist and pull him out of view, Dranov told the grand jury, according to the newspaper’s source.
Sandusky left the shower in a towel seconds later, the report said.
Because McQueary said he hadn’t personally witnessed an assault, Dranov said he advised McQueary to report the incident to his superiors at Penn State, but that he shouldn’t worry about informing the police, the report said.
Ousted coach Joe Paterno has said he was never told of anything such as rape or molestation about what happened in the shower stall. Paterno and McQueary discussed the matter the next day.
McQueary’s story is also a key aspect of the perjury and other charges brought against former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and ex-vice president Gary Schultz, whose stories also contradict McQueary’s.
Curley and Schultz have testified they were told about “horseplay” that McQueary said made him feel uncomfortable. McQueary says he told them graphic details about a sexual assault.
As previously reported, McQueary told a friend in an email that he stopped the alleged rape and discussed it with police, something a source familiar with the state’s investigation confirmed to ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi.
McQueary testified that after witnessing the alleged assault, he left the building, called his father and the next day told Paterno what he saw.
In another email reported by NBC News, McQueary told friends that he did the right thing.
“I didn’t just turn and run … I made sure it stopped … I had to make quick tough decisions,” he said in the email, according to the report.
Sandusky has been charged with sexually assaulting or molesting 10 boys over a period of at least 15 years, with some of the alleged abuse taking place at the Penn State football complex. He has maintained his innocence.
The Penn State scandal brought down Paterno, who was fired by university trustees Nov. 9 amid growing criticism that he should have done more to stop the alleged abuse. University president Graham Spanier was also dismissed.
