McQuery is NOT a "whistleblower," and deserves no legal protection.

[Atman]

He witnessed an individual committing a heinous crime. He didn't blow the whistle on ANYBODY, he went home and told his daddy. He didn't, as an employee of Penn State, go to the proper authorities and report crimes his employer was committing. Sandusky was not his employer. McQUERY DID NOTHING. Nothing. Whistleblower status protects employees from retribution by their employers, but in this case Penn State was his employer, not Sandusky. He had a moral and legal obligation to report what he had witnessed.

[maddezmom]

1. you make a very good point here. And Sandusky was no longer an employee of Penn State in 2002.

[maddezmom]

17. scratch that about Sandusky, looks like he was recruiting for PSU until he

was arrested.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2288134

[pnwmom]

2. He had a moral obligation but no legal obligation under PA law.

Under PA law, he fulfilled his obligation by reporting to Paterno.

The law clearly needs to be changed.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/penn-stat...


When Joe Paterno, the ousted Penn State football coach, was confronted with a possible case of child rape, he notified his bosses rather than call the police or the child-abuse hotline. That was all Pennsylvania law required him to do, yet in most other states the failure to call could be a crime.

In more than 40 states, the prevailing policy is that such reports must be made to police or child-protection authorities swiftly and directly, with no option for delegating the task to others and then not following through.

Already, the Penn State scandal has sparked calls for Pennsylvania to toughen its law. State Rep. Kevin Boyle says he will introduce a bill that would require mandated reporters — including school and hospital employees — to notify police themselves rather than pass their information on to superiors at work.

“It is clear that a loophole exists in our law,” Boyle said. “My legislation would close that loophole by requiring those who are aware of the abuse to report it to law enforcement authorities, rather than simply following an in-house chain of command.”

A review by The Associated Press of the abuse-reporting laws of all 50 states showed that Pennsylvania is one of only about a half-dozen states where the protocol for staff members of schools, hospitals and other institutions is to notify the person in charge in the event of suspected child abuse. That superior is then legally obliged to report to the authorities.

SNIP

[Atman]

4. Even given the scenario presented in the PA law, SOMEONE was supposed to go to the police.

Yet, it was all kept internal. Because there was too much money at stake.

[pnwmom]

6. Absolutely. And that's why the Grand Jury has indicted the higher-ups. n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. I have read that the highest official at PSU it was reported to also oversaw the campus police

While not an LEO himself, some feel that reporting it to him was the equivalent of reporting it to the police. Personally I am not so sure.

Also seen statements to the effect that none of the coaching staff were required reporters under PA law.

[rhett o rick]

18. However, if he received preferential treatment for getting his job because he kept quiet,

it can be considered extortion, IMO.

[mzmolly]

3. Agreed.

eom

[AngryOldDem]

5. You are exactly correct.

"Star witness" for the state or not, the man deserves to be charged. When you walk in on an adult sodomizing a young boy, you DON'T turn around, walk out, and sit on that knowledge for a day. Of anyone in this mess, he is about the most culpable. He was at ground zero of this scandal and did NOTHING about it. How much heartache could he save saved a lot of people had he just gone to the fucking phone and CALLED THE COPS????

I read a newspaper summary of the grand jury report while eating lunch yesterday, and I very near couldn't finish eating.

[pnwmom]

7. The problem is: what do you charge him with?

PA law did not make him a mandatory reporter -- it allows him to do exactly what he did, tell his superior. Even Paterno apparently wasn't high enough in the chain of command to be subject to Pennsylvania mandatory reporting laws.

[AngryOldDem]

9. It's time to make mandatory reporting part of the law everywhere.

There was the outcry immediately after the Church sex scandal broke to do just that, but anything legal moves at a glacial pace. Maybe the uproar over Penn St. will be what it takes to reform these laws to protect kids. If you see a kid being abused, you report it. Period. Doesn't matter if you're a teacher, doctor, day care worker or street cleaner.

If it takes codifying something that everybody should feel morally obligated to do in the first place, then so be it.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. That will not impact this case, but I agree it needs to be done

[pnwmom]

15. Absolutely.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2287722

[Atman]

11. My guess is he consulted with his personal atty first.

His atty explained to him that he had no further legal obligation, and Paterno went with that...instead of going with what he knew was right.

[pnwmom]

16. I bet you're right. That's why changing the law is important. n/t

[beac]

12. AND he continued to associate with Sandusky in the years after witnessing the rape!

Described in court papers as distraught about witnessing the 2002 attack, separate newspaper accounts from the time indicate McQueary appeared in the months and years that followed in charity events that Sandusky also took part in, or were to benefit Sandusky's group The Second Mile.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iRixrq13pK87h_paTdiYhUrWcJHA?docId=ab1bf2846d9c4b529aa6ad1a8d6d7884

AND he and "JoePa" apparently thought it was just fine to use Sandusky to recruit for Penn State right up until the scandal broke:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2288134&mesg_id=2288196

:mad:

[beac]

13. I hadn't seen your OP when I said the same thing on another post.

If McQueary had seen a different non-employee of Penn State raping a child in the showers, would he have also reported that to his daddy instead of calling 911? Of course not.

[Vinca]

14. I can't wrap my brain around the idea a person would see it going on and not step in to stop it.

Whether the reporting was legal or not, he didn't do the moral thing which would have been an immediate rescue of the kid. I don't know how the guy can live with himself.