Mike McQueary, key witness in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case, files suit against Penn State

(CBS/AP) HARRISBURG, Pa. - Mike McQueary, the Penn State football assistant whose report of Jerry Sandusky allegedly attacking a child in the showers led to Joe Paterno's firing, said in a court filing Tuesday that he is suing the school.

Pictures: Child-sex scandal rocks Penn State

The "writ of summons" filed by Mike McQueary's lawyer described it as a whistle-blower case, but the brief document was not accompanied by a full complaint that would lay out the allegations.

McQueary's attorney, Elliott Strokoff of Harrisburg, did not respond to a phone message at his office late Tuesday. His father, John McQueary, declined to comment on his behalf.

McQueary, then a graduate assistant, has said he complained to Paterno of seeing the boy in a locker room shower naked with Sandusky. Originally, prosecutors reported that the date of the alleged assault was March 1, 2002, but this week the state filed papers indicating they now believe it took place on Feb. 9, 2001.

McQueary testified in December that he believed Sandusky was molesting the boy and "having some type of sexual intercourse with him," but added he was not "100 percent" certain they were having intercourse because of his vantage point.

Penn State's trustees have said they fired Paterno as coach partly because of his response to the incident. Paterno reported the matter to administrators Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, which trustees have called "his minimum legal duty" and "a failure of leadership." Paterno was fired as coach in November and died in January of lung cancer.

McQueary, who was a receivers coach, was placed on paid administrative leave by the school after the three men were arrested in November. All three have pleaded not guilty.

Penn State spokesman Dave La Torre said school officials were unable to comment because they had not seen the complaint.

Complete coverage of the Penn State sex abuse scandal on Crimesider