Back in 1996, a security guard by the name of Richard Jewell, was named by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CNN, and NBC as a suspect in the Olympic park bombing. What ensued was a media circus not unlike that which we had seen two years earlier during the O.J. Simpson case. Only this time, Jewel was completely innocent and the media and law enforcement were completely reckless.
Jewell’s name was cleared and he eventually sued, and successfully settled, lawsuits against the FBI and several media organizations.
Today, Richard Jewell died:
Richard Jewell, the security guard wrongly suspected and later cleared of setting off a deadly bomb at Atlanta, Georgia’s Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Olympics, died Wednesday morning, his attorney, Lin Wood, told CNN.
Jewell, 44, died of natural causes at his home in Woodbury, Georgia, according to Meriwether County Coroner Johnny Worley.
Jewell had been suffering from diabetes and kidney failure since February, Worley said.
Worley is working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on the autopsy, which should be completed Thursday afternoon. No foul play is suspected, he said.
After 12 weeks of scrutiny following the bombing, Jewell was cleared by the FBI and U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander in an unprecedented government acknowledgment of wrongful accusation.
“I am not the Olympic Park bomber,” Jewell told reporters after being cleared. “I am a man who has lived 88 days afraid of being arrested for a crime I did not commit.”
Jewell was, some might say, the first victim of the 24 hour news cycle.
August 29th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
That is sad. I had just arrived in Athens, GA that night for the Olympics. Some friends of mine and I had planned on going to the park that night in Atlanta, but were too tired from the drive. It was surreal following the bombing. Don’t forget, this was pre-9/11. The media’s treatment of Jewell (as well as the treatment he received from law enforcement) was shameful.
May he rest in peace.
August 30th, 2007 at 8:27 am
This is shameful. They can say he died of natural causesall you want but the stress from the accusations KILLED HIM.
ALL WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE SHOULD HAVE THE SAME TYPE OF SITUATION HAPPEN TO THEM AND SEE HOW SICK THEY GET.
Law enforcement FBI, and Media, you are the lowest of low when it comes to harrassment and should pay through the last pant pocket for a mistake like this.
August 30th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Something this article doesn’t talk about is Mr. Jewell’s record as a security guard at another time & place that caused the FBI to look a little closer at him. Apparently, he had been employed by Pepperdine University where he was later fired for allegedly driving a campus security patrol car and performing unauthorized and illegal routine traffic stops off campus. That was the “cloud of suspicion” that got the ball rolling.