BOSTON -- An alleged church abuse victim who hospitalized after nearly drowning in a river spoke out Monday about the incident.

Patrick McSorley, 28, was in the Neponset River on June 18. He was walking through Pope John Park drinking a coffee with a friend when the pair separated, McSorley said.

"The exact events that happened to lead up to my injury, I am not clear of," McSorley said. "When I came out of it the hospital six days later, I had a black eye. I think I put my foot too deep in the marsh. It may have gone down too far and I whacked my head. I just don't understand how I hit my head from behind because there was a lump there as well."

McSorley said that his friend, who was not identified, left to go talk to a friend, and when he returned, he saw McSorley floating facedown in the water.

McSorley's lawsuit against defrocked priest John Geoghan was one of hundreds that helped spark the Boston Archdiocese scandal. The lawsuit was among the first of hundreds of suits filed against the archdiocese that led Cardinal Bernard Law to step down as archbishop in December.

While McSorley recovered from the near drowning, there was speculation that he tried to take his own life.

"I did not try to take my own life. Because I am a victim of sexual molestation, I want people to know that it was not a suicide and I want other victims to know that is not the way to go. Suicide is not the way out. I wouldn't commit suicide over a priest," McSorley said.

He thanked those who stood behind him and prayed for his recovery.

"I'd like to give special thanks to the SNAP groups, Bishop Lennon and the people who held signs up at the Boston Medical Center. Without all those prayers I would not have made it," he said.