Mike McQueary was the first witness to testify in today’s preliminary hearing of former Penn State administrators Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz and Tim Curley for allegedly concealing reports Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse.
Tweets from managing editor of Onward State, Kevin Horne, who is in Harrisburg today covering the hearing, describe McQueary’s testimony so far.
According to the tweets, Mcqueary began by recounting the 2001 shower incident that he witnessed and later told Penn State administrators. McQueary said that Paterno told him, “The University is going to come down hard on you. Don’t worry about me. They’re going to scapegoat you.”
McQueary also testified that during their last conversation, Paterno told him to “get a lawyer. Don’t trust [former Penn State legal counsel] Cynthia Baldwin and don’t trust Old Main.”
According to McQueary’s testimony, he also said that Paterno, speaking about the investigation post-2001, said, “Old Main screwed it up.”
“I didn’t handle this thing in a perfect way. I would point the finger at myself before I point it at anyone else,” McQueary said.
McQueary also said that he was at fault for not following up with Tim Curley about the incident.
The former assistant football coach said that when the police showed up at his door in 2010, “Right away I knew what it was about. There were rumors going on for two years.” McQueary went on to say that Paterno “was great through the whole thing” and in passing, sometimes Paterno would comment, “God, [Sandusky] was a sick guy.”
Former Police Chief Tom Harmon was the second person to testify. Horne tweeted at about 11:20 that the court was on a short, 20-minute recess.
For updates, stay with StateCollege.com.
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