Reports: McQueary says he stopped attack

An assistant Penn State football coach on administrative leave says in an email that he stopped Jerry Sandusky's alleged sexual attack on a young boy in the showers.

In the email, obtained by several media outlets, Mike McQueary also says he had "discussions with police and with the official at the university in charge of police" after stopping the alleged attack.

The email was written to a former classmate, according to The Morning Call, a newspaper based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

In it, McQueary wrote that he "is getting hammered for handling this the right way or what I thought at the time was right," according to the paper.

The wide receivers coach was placed on indefinite administrative leave last Friday and told not to attend Saturday's game against Nebraska out of fear for his own safety and based on threats made against him.

McQueary has come under increasing scrutiny and is seen as a key witness in the child sex-abuse case against Sandusky after grand jury testimony in which he said he witnessed the former Penn State defensive coordinator raping a boy he thought was around 10 years old.

According to the grand jury report -- in which he is identified as a graduate assistant -- McQueary left after seeing the alleged attack and later reported it to head coach Joe Paterno.

McQueary's email would seem to contradict his testimony to the grand jury, which did not mention an attempt to stop the attack.

"I did stop it, not physically, but made sure it was stopped when I left that locker room," McQueary said in the email, according to the paper.

McQueary also wrote: "No one can imagine my thoughts or wants to be in my shoes for those 30-45 seconds. Trust me."

Sandusky spoke publicly for the first time since being charged with 40 counts of various sexual crimes against children, telling NBC's Bob Costas on Monday that he was innocent of the charges.

In a telephone interview, Sandusky claimed he "horsed around" with children, showered with them after workouts, hugged them and touched their legs, but did so "without intent of sexual contact."

On Tuesday, McQueary spoke briefly with a "CBS Evening News" reporter and said his emotions were "all over the place." He compared himself and his situation to a shaken snow globe.

Paterno, who had coached Penn State since 1966, and school president Graham Spanier are among the school leaders who have lost their jobs in the scandal.

Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, who oversaw the school's police department, were charged with perjury in the case and both stepped down from their positions.