A security guard at the summer Olympics in Atlanta GA in 1996, Richard Jewell discovered a pipe bomb in the Centennial Olympic Park. He alerted police and started to evacuate the area before the bomb exploded, but the blast killed one woman and injured over 100 others. For surely saving many others, Jewell was held up as a hero -- until two days later, when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reported Jewell was "a focus" of investigators (though it noted that others had "not yet been ruled out as potential suspects.") Jewell was ridiculed as a wanna-be cop who "probably" planted the bomb himself so he could find it and be a hero. Several other news agencies picked up the report, smearing his name worldwide. It took nearly three months for the FBI to make an unprecedented announcement: that Jewell was NOT considered a suspect, and that the "unusual and intense publicity" surrounding him was
neither designed nor desired by the FBI, and in fact interfered with the investigation.
(The actual bomber was anti-abortion domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph; his bombing spree killed three and injured at least 150 others.) Jewell sued several news agencies for libel, and most settled with him -- though the ajc itself refused to, and the lawsuit against them is still pending. Jewell went on to become a police officer -- and lecture at journalism schools about how unsourced and anonymous accusations can damage innocent people. Jewell finally received a commendation from Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue last year on the 10th anniversary of the bombing.
I never expected this day to ever happen,
Jewell said. He died 2007Aug29 from a heart attack. He was 44.
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