Josh Shaw, the USC cornerback who has been suspended indefinitely for lying about spraining both of his ankles jumping from a second-floor balcony to rescue his drowning nephew, reportedly called the school right after USC issued a press release to ask for a correction in his fictitious account.
According to a Newsweek report, “when USC issued a press release on Monday afternoon proclaiming Shaw’s heroic (and fictitious) tale of rescuing his seven year-old nephew from drowning in a pool, he even phoned them to correct an inaccuracy in the story. That’s correct: Josh Shaw noticed an error in USC’s account of his made-up story about saving his nephew from drowning.”
After noticing that he was “described as landing on the pool deck and then crawling to the pool,” Shaw reportedly “phoned to say that such phrasing was melodramatic, that he had not crawled to the pool, suggesting that the phrase ‘made his way to the pool’ be used instead.”
USC officials reportedly interrogated Shaw, who was “arguably the most respected player on the roster,” because they found the story to be a “a little unusual,” according to Newsweek. Shaw’s “family members such as his older sister Asia, Carter’s mom,” reportedly corroborated it in addition to unnamed “non-family members who USC declined to name.”
As Newsweek describes:
It was a matter of the team’s ultimate character guy relating what at first appeared to be a dubious story. Did Shaw really make it from downtown Los Angeles to Palmdale in under an hour? Wasn’t it rather late for a seven year-old boy to be in a pool, alone? Why not run down the stairs as opposed to jumping from the balcony? For every question USC officials asked, Shaw had what appeared to be a credible answer.
Here is the police report from the night in question. Shaw has hired an attorney but he has not been accused of a crime. According to the Los Angeles Times:
The report came from a neighbor. Officers knocked on the door of the third-floor apartment where the screams were heard but there was no answer, Faden said. The officers then broke open the door and conducted a brief search of the apartment, finding no one inside. Officers noticed “the window had been pried open,” she said. Faden said witnesses told police they had seen a black man with dreadlocks climbing from the third-floor balcony of the apartment. The woman who resides in that unit then arrived on the scene. Given the description of the man provided by witnesses, she said it fit that of her boyfriend, Shaw. The woman, whom police have not identified, reported nothing stolen from the apartment.
Here is the police report from the night in question:
“On Saturday, August 23rd, at approximately 10:40 p.m. PT officers from Central Division responded to a radio call of a screaming woman at the 500 block of North Figueroa. When they arrived, officers met with witnesses who directed them to an apartment complex. After numerous attempts to contact the residents of the apartment, officers feared someone may be in inside and made entry, but no one was home. Officers continued their investigation and noticed the rear window had been pried open. Witnesses described a black male with dreadlocks leaving the apartment balcony. Officers then later met with a woman who was a resident of the apartment along with her roommates. The female said that her boyfriend was Josh Shaw who is a black male with dreadlocks. Mr. Shaw is listed in the report as the victim’s boyfriend who happened to have a similar description of the suspect leaving the apartment. No suspects have been arrested. The investigation is still ongoing.”
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