Here’s a good example of the media (and school) clinging onto a story well before checking the validity of said story and running with it, only to have the story turn out to be completely false and then come back to bite them in the ass.
Less than a week after being heralded as a hero for “jumping from a second-story window to save his drowning nephew” USC cornerback Josh Shaw is now being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department for his role in an alleged domestic abuse case. Shaw was suspended indefinitely by Southern Cal after he approached the schools athletic department and admitted that he made up the heroic story.
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On Friday, the LA Times reported that Shaw and his girlfriend were being investigated for a possible domestic-violence incident. More from the Times:
Shaw’s attorney, Donald Etra, said his client “has already spoken to the LAPD twice. We believe that is enough. The matter is over and there is no need to talk to them further. … Enough is enough.”
Police went to a third-floor apartment in the Orsini building in downtown Los Angeles about 10:40 p.m. Saturday night after receiving a report of a woman screaming, Officer Sara Faden said.
Officers knocked on the apartment door but there was no answer, Faden said. The officers then broke open the door and conducted a brief search, but found no one inside. Officers noticed that “the window had been pried open,” she said.
Faden said witnesses told police they had seen a man with dreadlocks climbing from the third-floor balcony of the apartment. The woman who resides in the unit then arrived on the scene.
Given the description of the man provided by witnesses, she said it fit that of her boyfriend, Shaw, who has another apartment in the building.
The woman, whom police have not identified, reported nothing stolen from the apartment.
Faden said the investigation was continuing.
It’s one thing to lie about getting duped by some online “girlfriend,” a la Manti T’eo. It’s a whole ‘nother to try to cover up a crime (an alleged one, as of right now) by trying to convince everyone you’re a hero. This kid’s football future is all but shot.
