McQueary: "Act was over" so I didn't go to cops

Assistant Penn State football coach Mike McQueary / CBS

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary says he witnessed former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky molesting a boy but that he didn't call police because he was sure "the act was over."

McQueary was testifying Friday at a preliminary evidentiary hearing for two of his superiors at Penn State who are charged with perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury in an attempt to cover up child sex abuse allegations against another coach, Jerry Sandusky.

A judge ruled late Friday that prosecutors do have probable cause to move forward with the cases against Tim Curley and Gary Schultz -- a decision that widely expected.

Under cross-examination, McQueary answered a question that many observers had asked: Why didn't he call police on Sandusky?

Special Section: The Penn State Scandal

He says it was because it was "delicate in nature" and that he tried to use his best judgment. He says he was "sure the act was over."

He says he later informally raised questions to people he worked with about why Sandusky was still allowed around the football program.

Speaking for the first time in public about the 2002 encounter in a Penn State locker room, McQueary said he believes that Sandusky was attacking the child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 percent sure it was intercourse.

McQueary said he had stopped by a campus football locker room to drop off a pair of sneakers in the spring of 2002 when he happened up Sandusky and the boy in a shower.

He said Sandusky was behind the boy he estimated to be 10 or 12 years old, with his hands wrapped around the boy's waist. He said the boy was facing a wall, with his hands on it.

McQueary said he has never described what he saw as anal rape and couldn't see Sandusky's genitals, but that "it was very clear that it looked like there was intercourse going on."

Sandusky says he is innocent of more than 50 charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 15 years on 10 boys in his home, on Penn State property and elsewhere. The scandal has provoked strong criticism that Penn State officials didn't do enough to stop Sandusky, and prompted the departures of Hall of Fame football coach Joe Paterno and the school's longtime president, Graham Spanier.

[BIGSKY51]

Hurry! Throw McQueary a lifejacket he's sinking.

[thoughtxchange2]

I don't know what to think about this guy. When he first saw Sandusky having sex with the child he basically just "poked his head in and out" of the showers a few times while it was going on. As if it was OK and he just wanted to get progress updates while he went on with other business. Wouldn't any normal person have said "what the hell" and junped in and done something? I would have without thinking. I would not have cared at all what political problem the man could have caused for me- I would have jumped in there and done something. At minimum he told someone- that is the only thing he has going. But why not tell the police when he saw nothing was really being done to prevent it from happening again? And I have to say I literally laughed out loud when I read that he didn't report becuase the act was over. I know he is not THAT stupid. Just when I thought I could have not heard a more ignorant comment, that comes along. Surely it was the pressure he was under talking- he needs to take that back or no doubt will be labeled an idiot for the rest of his life- and maybe that is exactly what he is.

[AnnieDanny]

I think we're being too harsh on McQeary. He was a young man in his 20's. He DID report it to Paterno and to his father, older men who were his mentors. He was clearly upset, those older men knew it was serious. IMO, it was these older gentlemen who should have advised McQeary better or gone to the police themselves. They failed a young man who DID go to them for counsel, IMO. And they failed that child in the shower.

Even now, it's because of McQueary that this whole thing has hit the fan. I think we should cut him some slack. What kind of case would authorities have if not for McQueary blowing the whistle on the whole thing? I feel bad for the guy.

[ralphing]

He was 28, almost 30 years old. That's old enough to use your common sense without having your daddy do it for you. He also missed out on the chance to keep Sandusky from continuing his molestation of this boy after this specific act was stopped. He also missed the opportunity to find out this boys identity. It will be impossible to identify a 10 year old boy after the fact. Sandusky could have killed the boy to cover his tracks. Who would even know afterwards.

McQueary is a waste of life.

[Mixed-Chick]

I knew to tell police long before I was in my 20s, Good God you are kidding right? I guess it would have been ok if he saw a murder also and since it was over did not report that either??

[fedup12]

Well I saw him finish robbing the store, so it was over I saw no need to call the cops...

Nope doesnt work for that either.

If I was a parent of one of the boys he saw Sandusky molesting I would kick his ASS.

[AZOkie]

Let's see. Comparisons are 1. I didn't report the murder because the victim was already dead. 2. I didn't report the armed robbery because the perp already had the money. 3. I didn't report the rape because the perp had already finished. REALLY? Pathetic!

[cattiej]

McQueary should be arrested for not reporting this rape. I mean the real police, not the coach or who ever he talked to, if he did talk to them. I woulnd't hire McQueary for the job of dog catcher. He should be hounded the rest of his life by parents who little sons have been raped and molested. Our prisons are full of men who were raped as little boys, they never got over it and turned violent just as violence was used against them as children. Part of the states Nurse Practice Act is that if you suspect a child has been abused, you must report it, even if it turns out they were not abused..This should be required for all teachers and coaches and especially by the Boy Scouts of America. Men has been known to use the Boy Scouts of find little boys to molest or abuse. You read it in the papers and on TV all the time. I wouldn't let my son belong to the Boy Scouts for that reason. Know who is living in your neighborhood..you can google up the names of child molesters in most of the states. Know who is working at your church and insist that a back ground check be done on anyone working or volunteering at your church. Be awere that boys who have no father figure at home are more likely to be molested or abused. It is also time for the courts to get tough with these pedofiles. They should be life in prison and a special prison be set up for child molesters. They are sick in the head and I don't believe they can ever be rehabilitated. McQueary is dirt, less than dirt and I hope he is forever haunted by not reporting this rape of a child and done so formally with an attorney and whoever it took to bring this Sandusky down and put him behind bars forever.

[hush_puppy]

This is the stupidest excuse I have ever read. He should be put into a Turkish prison for 10 years and then transferred to a Mexican prison for the rest of his life. That red hair would get him the understanding her needed to mam-up!

[stuwerb]

Thank God he wasn't in charge of delivering justice to the September 11 hijackers and their associates -- no reason to do anything because the act was already over.

[saturn05]

What a coward!

[vista8635]

It's the cover up that always gets them. He's gone. He could have saved himself, but he just couldn't come clean. Big mistake!