HLN’s Nancy Grace called Penn State students’ rioting in reaction to legendary coach Joe Paterno’s firing “disturbing” this morning.
“Why is everybody turning over a car because somebody rightfully gets fired when nobody is turning over a car when a 10-year-old boy is molested in the shower by a grown man?” Grace said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday.
Still, she said she was more concerned by the two PSU officials who have been charged with perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury investigating the alleged sexual abuse of eight boys by the football team’s former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky. Paterno was not accused of any crimes.
Read: Shocking details from the Penn State grand jury report
Grace blamed the administrators’ apparent failure to report an incident involving Sandusky and a young boy in the locker room showers in 2002 on “confused loyalties.”
“People think they’ve got to cover for their boss. They got to cover for the school,” Grace said on ABC.
Speaking to Robin Meade on HLN’s Morning Express, Grace explained her opinion on Paterno’s handling of the case.
“Regarding Joe Paterno, I’m a big Paterno fan. Let me tell you the legal deal. Under our jurisprudence system, you’re not required to be a hero, report crimes,” she said.
There are laws in some jurisdictions that require educators to report suspected abuse, but Paterno notifying the athletic director after a graduate assistant brought the 2002 incident to his attention likely satisfied any legal obligation he had, according to Grace.
While authorities may examine what Pennsylvania law requires, Grace concluded, “I don’t see any legal action against Paterno. None at all.”
That does not absolve him and others who were aware of accusations against Sandusky of the moral responsibility to report what they knew to authorities, though.
Addressing the case on ABC's “The View” Thursday, Grace said, “Anybody can turn a blind eye to a little boy being sodomized in a shower, I got a problem with that.”
Join the conversation...