Richard Jewell was the rent-a-cop that found a bomb at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 and was later accused of putting it there in the first place. He was then cleared and given a commendation for saving lives. He sued many of the news organizations that reported he was a villain and won settlements from NBC and CNN. Richard Jewell remained in Law Enforcement and was a Sheriff’s Deputy at the time of his death. He was 44 years old.
The Richard Jewell story is why everyone waited until Micheal Vick admitted he was a dog torturing, dog murdering, nasty bastard for at least six years while he was making millions of dollars and should have known better. Until Vick told the world he was a total scum bucket, we had to pretend that, well, maybe he wasn’t. Because not enough people waited to see if Richard Jewell was a terrorist with a hero complex, or a real hero. Since real heroes are pretty rare in the work-a-day world we live in, it was easy to look at him and say, hey, this is no hero. Richard Jewell didn’t look like a hero and his body fat index likely lead to his death.
Security Guards get little to no respect, even now when we are all supposed to be worried about Terrorists hiding under our beds. His actions made Security Guard Richard Jewell a hero, and for that he deserves to be remembered with some respect.
