A day after it was widely reported that USC CB/co-captain Josh Shaw had been hospitalized after leaping from a second flood balcony to save his drowning nephew, Shaw’s coach, Steve Sarkisian, appeared to distance himself from prior claims this was a selfless, heroic act. From the LA Times’ Gary Klein :
After Tuesday’s practice, with cameras from sports, news and entertainment television shows present, Sarkisian said he would answer questions about the team and then address the Shaw story. Sarkisian began by saying that Shaw was a “a good person. He’s a good kid,” and that “I have no reason, no history to not believe Josh and his story.”
But he did not say that the story was true or false.
“I only know what I know, and Josh is adamant with what occurred and we’ll continue to vet some of the other stories that have come across our desk and across our phones,” Sarkisian said. Sarkisian declined to identify who had called the school.
The Los Angeles Police Department said Shaw’s name came up in a report filed by officers who responded to a call about a woman heard screaming at the Orsini Apartments at 505 N. Figueroa St. on Saturday night.
Lt. Andrew Neiman, a department spokesman, said officers forced entry into one apartment but found no one inside. They then interviewed witnesses at the apartments who reported seeing a man scampering across third-floor balconies and provided a general description of the individual. Later, as officers were talking to a woman, “She responded to a description with words to the effect, ‘That sounds like my boyfriend, Josh Shaw,’ ” Neiman said.