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A Hero's Fall

The people of Atlanta and Olympic fans everywhere will not forget the night of July 26, 1996. After a day of spirited competition among athletes from 197 nations, Olympic Stadium stood empty and still. But tourists and Atlantans lingered past midnight at a rock concert in Centennial Park.

At 1:21 a.m. on July 27, the partying came to a sudden halt when a bomb ripped into the night. A woman was killed; 111 others were injured. There might have been more injuries were it not for the work of a security guard named Richard Jewell. Jewell had noticed a suspicious-looking knapsack near the stage and warned people to get away. The knapsack, it turned out, had contained the bomb.

Jewell was hailed as a hero in newspapers and on TV shows around the world. But not for long. Three days after the explosion, Atlanta's biggest newspaper reported that Jewell had become the FBI's main suspect in the bombing.

Last week Richard Jewell was once again all over the news. After 88 days of digging up facts about the 33-year-old security guard and watching his every move, the Federal Bureau of Investigation declared that Jewell was no longer the target of its investigation.

Was Jewell relieved? Perhaps. But last week he seemed to be mainly angry. "I felt like a hunted animal, followed constantly," he said. "The FBI and the media almost destroyed me and my mother." Jewell's mother Barbara lives with him. "The difficult task of trying to restore my reputation begins today."

Was Jewell Treated Unfairly?
Jewell was never charged with a crime. Yet his reputation was destroyed. For nearly three months he was unable to leave his home without being followed by police, FBI agents and camera crews. He and his mother felt like prisoners. Viewed as a criminal, he was unable to get a job.

Jewell is not about to forgive and forget. His lawyers say he will sue the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the newspaper that first named him as a suspect; NBC News; and maybe the FBI.

Why Was He A Suspect?
Before the Olympics, Jewell had held other law-enforcement jobs. Former co-workers and employers who saw Jewell on TV called the FBI to say that Jewell loved to be a hero. Agents began to wonder whether Jewell might have planted the bomb himself and then tried to save people from the explosion in order to seem like a hero. They started to check it out.

Someone said Jewell owned a knapsack like the one that held the bomb. Someone else had heard a loud explosion on Jewell's property. Another person said Jewell had asked whether the tower near where the bomb exploded could withstand an explosion. This information seemed important to the FBI. But the long investigation could not back it up.

What The Law Allows
Although reporters made Jewell miserable, it seems they did not break the law. Reporting something untrue to harm Jewell would have been a crime called libel (lie-bul). But since newspapers reported "truthfully" that he was a suspect, there was no violation of his legal rights, says Professor Vincent Blasi of the Columbia University School of Law. Blasi is an expert on the First Amendment, the part of the Constitution guaranteeing free speech.

Did law officers do anything illegal? Probably not. The FBI is trying to find out whether its agents gave Jewell's name to reporters--a big no-no. It is also investigating agents who interviewed Jewell after the bombing. Jewell's lawyers say agents tried to trick him into talking about the case without telling him he was a suspect. If agents are found to have broken any rules, they may be fired. But most legal experts say Jewell will not win money in a court battle with the FBI or news organizations.

Jewell wants to work in law enforcement again, and last week he got a job offer. But until another suspect is charged in the bombing, it will be hard for Jewell to clear his name.

When Jewell got home after announcing that the FBI had backed off, his parking lot was filled once again with news crews. Once again he had that hunted feeling. "I can't find peace anywhere," he said.

Next: So Many Refugees, So Little Hope