McQueary sues Penn State for $4 million
Former Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary, the key witness in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse trial, filed a whistleblower lawsuit on Tuesday seeking $4 million from the university, multiple media outlets reported.
McQueary claims he became a scapegoat for the university's failures to properly control a coach accused of sexual assault. The suit, filed in Bellefonte, Pa., also claims McQueary suffered "distress, anguish, humiliation and embarrassment," according to FightOnState.com.
McQueary testified that, when he was a graduate assistant in 2001, he witnessed Sandusky having sex with a boy in the locker room. He also testified that he reported what he saw to head football coach Joe Paterno and other university officials.
Sandusky, 68, was found guilty in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse.
The amount requested in the lawsuit is based on the fact that his base salary in 2011 was $140,400 plus bonuses and benefits, making his anticipated earnings over the next 25 years at least $4 million. The amount includes compensation for having his automobile privileges revoked, compensation for early withdrawals from his retirement account, bowl game bonuses from the 2011 season, back pay through Sandusky's trial, and his legal expenses.
McQueary said he was placed on administrative leave a week after a grand jury determined that university officials made false statements about what McQueary had told them.
His contract with the university expired June 30 and was not renewed.
The university has been paying the legal fees of other Penn State employees in the case, but not for McQueary.
