Paterno was told by a graduate assistant that he witnessed Sandusky molesting a boy in the locker room. Paterno passed that allegation to Tim Curry, the athletic director.
It was an ALLLEGATION. As far as we know, Paterno did not witness anything first-hand, so he could not go to police. He did exactly what he was supposed to to.
You are thinking like a college football fan and not objectively.
Paterno did report it to his supervisor, but Paterno is no ordinary mid level manager. He is probably more powerful than the one he reported it too. He should have at least followed up on it after he saw that the perp was still around the locker rooms.
If my grad assistant had come to me and told me this, my response would be, “let’s call the police right now- -and if you won’t, I will.”
“Paterno did not witness anything first-hand, so he could not go to police.”
Bullsht. It’s people that make excuses like you that permit such horrors to continue. You have a responsibility in front of God to do the right thing. No excuses.
Wait. If my daughter returns from baby sitting and says that she saw Mr. Johnson anally raping his five-year old son before she left, I can't go to the police because I did not witness anything first-hand? You may want to re-think and rephrase your comment.
The best thing for anyone to do before they speculate about what people knew and when, is to read at least pages 7 and 9 of the Grand Jury Presentment.
From the Grand Jury Presentment: On a Friday evening about 9:30, the graduate assistant went to the locker room to place a new pair of sneakers in a locker. He heard the 'rhythmic sound' of sex and saw two people in a shower stall: a naked ten-year-old boy with his hands against the wall, and a naked Sandusky anally raping the kid.
The two of them saw the graduate assistant. The graduate assistant didn't try and stop it (first mistake). The graduate assistant didn't call the police (second mistake). The graduate assistant went to a phone in an office in the building and called his father, then went home to his father. They agreed that he should tell Paterno. I don't know how late it was by then (the Presentment doesn't say). So they wait until the next morning to call Paterno (mistake number three).
Saturday morning, the graduate assistant calls Paterno and is asked to come to Paterno's house. After hearing what the graduate assistant has to say on Saturday morning, Paterno waits until Sunday to contact Athletic Director Curley (mistake number four).
Paterno doesn't tell the AD about any anal rape. He says there may have been "fondling" or "something of a sexual nature." (mistake number five: call anal rape "anal rape", not fondling). Sometime in the next week and a half (it may have been that day; the Presentment is not specific, Paterno meets with AD Curley and Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Schultz.
Schultz says that he was told something "disturbing" and "Inappropriate" happened, and that Sandusky may have grabbed a boy's genitals while "horsing around" and wrestling. (mistake number six: "anal rape" has now become "horsing around"; in a politically correct world, you can no longer yell upstairs "hey kids, quit horsing around!")
The University Police never interviewed the graduate assistant until after he had testified before the grand jury.
Under Pennsylvania law, the legal obligation is for the head of a school to notify authorities about suspected child abuse. Joe Paterno was not the head of Penn State. Morally, you make your own decisions about what additional actions you think Paterno should have taken. You may make your own decisions from the Presentment about what Paterno knew about Sandusky's previous molestations, and the minor penalties imposed by Penn State, or the minor penalty imposed by Penn State in this case.
The biggest unknown for me is whether the graduate student mentioned anal rape to Paterno at Paterno's house that Saturday morning. If he did, then I'm disappointed that Paterno didn't do more with the allegation, and that Paterno didn't react when the University levied virtually no punishment on Sandusky.
But, yes, Paterno met his legal obligation. And, no, Paterno did not report this to the police, even the University police.
It was an ALLLEGATION. As far as we know, Paterno did not witness anything first-hand, so he could not go to police. He did exactly what he was supposed to to.
He most certainly could have called the police based on second hand information. The police would then have started an investigation and interrogated the witnesses who saw it first hand.