OT: More Mike McQueary revelations about PSU - he was a victim of abuse himself
I did a search, and didn't see this on the board anywhere.
Mike McQueary, the primary whistleblower in the scandal with Sandusky and the football team at Penn State, made additional revelations in a recent article at ESPN.
- Mike McQueary shared that he himself was sexually abused as a boy. Details about how and when and where and who did not come out. He revealed this info with about a dozen Nittany Lions players on the team at the time the scandal came out.
- McQueary also shared with these players that he did indeed try to stop the abuse when he came upon Sandusky by slamming locker doors.
EDIT: (I failed to include this in my original post.) McQueary also was deliberate in going to those in authority about Sandusky (i.e., Paterno.) If I understand correctly, McQueary clearly believes that Paterno did not respond appropriately, although McQueary loves and doesn't exactly blame Paterno. I suppose that is one of the things that will come out when he takes the stand.
McQueary is in limbo until the case is resolved. No college will touch him or hire him as a coach. His career was in essence completely ruined. With no job and source of income, he is living at home and sleeping in his childhood bedroom.
Sad, sad, case, and these revelations shed a bit more light on what happened, and also give a sense of his motivation in not covering things up, but seeing that Sandusky was exposed.
but I'd like to think I would have done more than slam a couple lockers, especially if I had been a former victim of abuse.
... of an abused child, but I could imagine it making it harder to confront directly.
I don't think there's a single type of psyche. We are quick to assume that everyone deals with things the same, but they don't. His response could be anything. It likely would be impacted by his past history, but who knows how? Not all victims of abuse are the same, and not all of them deal with it in the same way. For example, everyone assumes that a victim of childhood abuse is more likely to become an abuser. Does that happen? Sure. But it's far from a certainty. Other factors are likely as, if not more, important.
This is a little off-topic, but does anyone remember the story about the initial report to police in 1998, where the DA decided not to press charges? It was always beyond bizarre to me that that DA disappeared--his body never found, presumed dead in 2011--in 2005. Obviously it is pure speculation, but I wonder what he might have known. I know he was very meticulous in destroying his laptop/hard drive. DA's just don't disappear too often.
the destruction of the laptop/hard drive is the real weird part of the story.
DAs just don't disappear too often, as you said, much less relatively small-town DAs.
If I had to bet (this is pure intuition, I have no real "facts" for this) --- (1) he was somehow pressured by PSU in 1998 not to charge, (2) he disappeared in 2005, partially because of said 1998 PSU case, and (3) he is still yet alive. Somewhere. He'd still only now be in his mid-60s.
...but also the continuing delays of the trials in Graham Spanier, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz. It'll be 3 years this fall and has a court date even been set? Sandusky was quickly tried & scapegoated but what is being kept out of sight by delaying the other trials?
Also, it's quite interesting to know that Spanier has top secret government security clearance.
It's probably not what you meant to say, but Jerry Sandusky is not a scapegoat: he really did commit horrible crimes.
Is Loose Change your favorite movie?
Hmmm ya I'll take the independent report done by the former director of the FBI rather than a attention-whoring hackjob done by a fringe reporter being funded by the Paterno family.
That then leaves us with only Aaron Fisher as an even theoretically totally credible victim who testified (after a couple of failed attempts in the grand jury) to an actual sex act with Sandusky. As I have outlined in this video which makes the case that Sandusky was a “chaste pedophile” and was grossly overcharged, there are many other reasons to question Fisher’s story, which I believe may have been coerced out of him by the therapist who co-wrote his book.
http://www.framingpaterno.com/victim-9-now-proven-have-lied-about-joe-p…
(I'm not joking)
If true then I have to question even more strongly why he was not doing more to stop the incident than just making loud noises hoping to scare Sandusky off? If he himself went through it - shouldnt he be even more enraged and want to stop the rape?
We may never truly know what happened that night but I seriously do not understand his reactions and lack of actual action that night at all. Banging locker room doors? Hiding? Calling his dad? But not actually stopping Sandusky. Not finding out who the boy was. Not immediately going to the police and filing a report. None of that makes sense to me at all. Never have - never will. And this latest development simply makes his actions seem even more strange to me, not less.
who (this is a man who is now separated from his wife and living back with his parents, so I'd guess it's not THEM) was the abuser? Sandusky himself? Very possible (McQueary grew up in State College, PA).
The article has a few interesting nuggets beyond just that:
(1) gambling allegations. In the 1995 PSU/Rutgers game, McQueary strangely audibled to a run-up-the-score long TD pass at the end, which oh-so-coincidentally happened to allow PSU to cover as a 20-point favorite.
(2) how this story broke because of a Penn State message board post (!!!)
but since he was a victim, it's hard to understand how he was affected for the rest of his life. He maybe froze up or was brought back to a horrible place. Nobody knows.
I bet no one has ever done or thought of this before. 1)mTake the cell phone out of his pocket, 2) dial 911, 3) tell PA State Police that he witnessed a rape.
Hindsight being 20/20 and all...you would think he would do more than just "slam lockers" instead of interveining.
I feel this situation is too sensitive to talk about.
Amen.
I dont want to refight my epic battle with ChiTown Blue on this subject but suffice it to say that as a father of four children I find it extremely hard to understand how anyone could let a grown man rape a child without trying everything in their power to stop it. I'm sure he had his reasons - they just dont make sense to me.
And you are 100% correct that I dont know ANYTHING about the situation other than what McQueary himself said.
Especially considering McQueary is 6'5 and could easily overpower a 60-year old man, I don't understand it either. I could understand maybe just calling the police if the man was physically superior to you, but there is no way that was the case.
In hindsight it's easy to be critical of McQueary for not stopping it, but it's not like he went home and kept it a secret for 14 years.
McQueary went to Joe Paterno in 1998 and told him what was going on in the locker room. Paterno, athletic director Tim Curley, university president Graham Spanier and PSU vice president Gary Schultz knew. Some of the most powerful men in the state were aware of what was going on and they did nothing. Even the district attorney knew and didn't file charges.
Everyone knew. It was a statewide coverup.
That incident with McQueary occured in 2001 and the DA was never notified. The complaint in 1998 was brought by a mother, but the DA declined to pursue it after a police investigation.
Paterno and the other administrators knew before 2001. It's not a coincidence that Sandusky retired in 99. It's part of the victims testimony that Paterno forced his retirement.
Of course, we could just convict him on the internet and boil him in oil. We did read a message board post, after all.
humani kind is a meat grinder
If you saw your boss having innaprorpriate relations with a child? I'd be very mad and would want it to stop immediately. I'd also be very scared and unsure about face to face confrontation. Would I pull the man off the child? That is a very real and very gross thing to think about, but I think it would be a scary situation. I can't say that I would have the gumption to go up to him directly. I'm sure being abused added another layer of complications to the matter for McQueary.
It's too bad too. He did more than most and now he is out of work. I hope someone takes a chance on him in the future.
He didn't just slam lockers. McQueary went to his higher ups, they didn't do their part.
I guess that helps me to understand why he didn't do the right thing. But we've all had tough things happen to us. And at some point you need to take responsibility for your actions, whether you had a screwed up childhood or not.
As a father of three, I can't imagine not doing something to protect and rescue a child. Part of this, however, is my personality. I have intervened in several fights which were not my affair, particularly when a man was assaulting a woman. I remember doing this while in my twenties back in Ann Arbor.
Having said that, I don't feel capable of standing in judgement on McQueary. The older I get, the less likely I am to judge. I realize more and more that so many people have been scarred very deeply, affecting their ability to act and react normally. I am saddened to find that McQueary himself was raped. I have had contact with too many rape victims, and seen how their lives are adversely affected in ways that are very difficult to heal. A child victim of rape at the hands of someone who should protect you is horrendous, and how this shaped McQueary is very sad.
I'd like to think that I would have played the action hero and dealt with what he came upon very differently, but I have to feel for him. His life is sunk in many ways even though he never hurt anyone.
Until i walk a mile in his shoes, not going to judge him for his immediate response in the locker room, but I would hope I would do more in the same situation.
He did show a lot of courage in bringing this to light and making something happen to stop the abuse. Exposing this in Happy Valley must have been a truly daunting prospect.
Shouldn't he be protected under some sort of whistle-blower law, whereby he should at least have his salary even if he is on some kind of employment waiver from PSU?
Seems weird that no college will touch him or hire him.....I would think that someone who will stand up and stop that kind of thing would be a good hire....just MHO.
I believe he stands to receive something like $5mil, but the case has to wind its way through the courts and be resolved, with all appeals exhausted, before McQueary receives anything.
Your question regarding some college hiring him is intriguing. While in no way related, your comments reminded me of the case of Michael Sam, and how his recent announcement will (or will not) affect his recruitment.
I might have misread part of that article. The victim from the shower made a statement that he was not raped in the shower that night. Also states that the only charges Sandusky was found not guilty on were the ones from that night. Im sure someone will correct me if I read that wrong.
The Mag story also reports new details about "Victim 2," the boy, now in his mid-20s, who was in the shower when McQueary witnessed Sandusky's alleged assault. A week after the presentment was released, a young man in his mid-20s identified himself as "Victim 2" to Joseph L. Amendola, the defense lawyer for Sandusky. In a wide-ranging interview on Nov. 9, 2011, in Amendola's State College law office, the young man, accompanied by his mother and brother, told Amendola and his investigator that at the time of the shower incident he was 14, not 10 or 11, as McQueary estimated.
According to a five-page memo detailing the interview written by Curtis Everhart, Amendola's investigator, the man said the incident happened on Feb. 9, 2001, not on March 1, 2002, as prosecutors had written in their presentment. The man said "this particular night is very clear in my mind," the memo states. In the shower after a workout, the man said he and Sandusky "were slapping towels at each other, trying to sting each other. I would slap the walls and would slide on the shower floor, which I am sure you could have heard from the wooden locker." The man said he recalled hearing a locker slam but never saw the person who slammed it. "The grand jury report says Coach McQueary said he observed Jerry and I engaged in sexual activity," the man said. "Nothing occurred that night in the shower."
If this is true, that partially answers my question on why McQueary did nothing. He never actually saw anything. However this doesn't excuse McQueary, if he had done more that kid would not have eventually been abused or the abuse may have ended. Everybody should have done more. However for me the part that has always blown my mind (beyond the obvious) is how any human could witness a child being raped and do nothing.
I used to feel sorry for McQueary, until this..... for he knew abuse was going on and he'd simply slam lockers? Anyone of substance would've called the police...
Agree and have no idea why anyone would down vote you.
sometimes we forget there are different types of people. the people who would handle this easily are people who don't have trouble w/ confrontation. some other people avoid confrontation, and hence this would be hard to handle. not excusing it, but it does go against some people's nature to "get involved".
As an eye witness to the abuse, he's as responsible as anyone for not screaming loud and long. Should have called the cops and then held a press conference if nothing happened.
I get what you're saying regarding McQuerary. Who knows what happened in his mind when he witnessed what he did given his past. However, as someone who doesn't have that emotional baggage to carry, I'd like to think after the initial shock, I'd be able to do something in the moment to prevent it from going any further. Who knows though.
the upcoming trial that will close the book on the Jerry Sandusky scandal
For everyone understanding McQueary doing nothing to stop the rape, would you understand his walking away if he witnessed a child being beaten?