Unless you’re one of the individuals in that one Geico commercial, you’re no doubt aware that Mike McQueary has come under a firestorm of criticism for his role in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal that’s plagued Penn State for more than a week.
Per the testimony of McQueary, who was placed on paid administrative leave last week, the then-grad assistant witnessed Sandusky sodomizing a 10-year-old boy in the shower of the school’s football building in 2002. Based on the grand jury’s presentment in the case, it appeared McQueary did nothing to stop the alleged attack, deciding instead to run and call his father, who told him to leave the building.
According to McQueary, that’s simply not the case.
In an email to former teammates obtained by NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander, McQueary said that “the truth is not out there fully”, that he “didn’t just turn and run.” Instead, McQueary states in the email, “I made sure it stopped.”
McQueary went on to write that “I did the right thing... you guys know me” and he “had to make quick, tough decisions.”
The grand jury wrote in its 23-page indictment of Sandusky that, after McQueary witnessed the alleged rape, he “left immediately, distraught.” Nowhere does it state that McQueary “did the right thing” by stopping the alleged rape of a child that was already in progress or by getting the young boy out of harm’s way.
The individual transcripts of those who testified in front of the grand jury were not released. Rather, the presentment was and it was merely a summation of what was discovered during the course of a two-year-plus investigation, so it’s entirely possible McQueary testified to stopping the alleged sexual assault and it simply wasn’t included in the presentment.
McQueary has yet to speak publicly since the scandal broke, although Sandusky will tonight. The former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator will be interviewed by Bob Costas on NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams” at 10 pm. ET.