According to reports, USC senior cornerback Josh Shaw was suspended from the football team Wednesday after admitting that he fabricated a story about rescuing his nephew from drowning to explain injuries to his ankles, the university’s sports spokesman said.
“We are extremely disappointed in Josh,” USC coach Steve Sarkisian said. “He let us all down. As I have said, nothing in his background led us to doubt him when he told us of his injuries, nor did anything after our initial evaluation of his story.”
Shaw was praised for his heroics in a story on the team’s website Monday. In the account, Shaw described how he instinctively jumped from a balcony, with no one around, to rescue his 7-year-old nephew in a pool in his hometown of Palmdale, California.
Criminal defense attorney Donald Etra issued a statement on Shaw’s behalf about the Saturday incident:
“I injured myself in a fall. I made up a story about this fall that was untrue,” Shaw said. “I was wrong to not tell the truth. I apologize to USC for this action on my part.”
There is still no answer on how Shaw injured his ankles. Although, Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed that a man named Joshua Shaw was named in a report involving a break-in at a downtown apartment building Saturday night.
Shaw was an acquaintance of the victim, not a person of interest or a suspect, Smith said.
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