by Tdarcos » Fri May 29, 2020 8:30 am
Oh I remember. This has been one of my standard lines for years. "You think talking to the police can't hurt you if you're innocent? Tell that to Richard Jewell."
He was a security guard at the Atlanta Olympics and saw a suspicious package. He got people out of the immediate area and called for the police, keeping people away until police arrived. His fast action allowed it to explode without causing casualties or death. This was part of the evidence used to convict the actual bomber, Eric Rudolph.
This poor bastard got raked over the coals by the media and law enforcement for the crime of doing his job and preventing people who would have been injured or killed from becoming so. For this he was castigated and falsely accused.
Jewell ended up settling with several media organizations for their shoddy coverage. He was never arrested, never charged with anything, and in a rational world would have been lauded as a hero. Later, the Governor of Georgia would do exactly that.
The only bright spot about this was, before he died, he was hired as a police officer by a small community in Georgia, the one thing he had always wanted to be. The police chief that hired him said, "I won't ever have to worry he'd use excessive force on someone or be too quick to arrest someone when there are questions." Or something like that.
He remains the poster boy for what can happen when an innocent person has been presumed guilty.
Oh I remember. This has been one of my standard lines for years. "You think talking to the police can't hurt you if you're innocent? Tell that to Richard Jewell."
He was a security guard at the Atlanta Olympics and saw a suspicious package. He got people out of the immediate area and called for the police, keeping people away until police arrived. His fast action allowed it to explode without causing casualties or death. This was part of the evidence used to convict the actual bomber, Eric Rudolph.
This poor bastard got raked over the coals by the media and law enforcement for the crime of doing his job and preventing people who would have been injured or killed from becoming so. For this he was castigated and falsely accused.
Jewell ended up settling with several media organizations for their shoddy coverage. He was never arrested, never charged with anything, and in a rational world would have been lauded as a hero. Later, the Governor of Georgia would do exactly that.
The only bright spot about this was, before he died, he was hired as a police officer by a small community in Georgia, the one thing he had always wanted to be. The police chief that hired him said, "I won't ever have to worry he'd use excessive force on someone or be too quick to arrest someone when there are questions." Or something like that.
He remains the poster boy for what can happen when an innocent person has been presumed guilty.