On July 27, 1996 at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park, a chubby security guard with a droopy mustache noticed a suspicious-looking knapsack. Worried that it might be a bomb, he began warning people to clear the area as quickly as possible. Minutes later, the pipe bomb inside the knapsack exploded, killing one (who had a heart attack) and wounding about 100 others.
That night, Richard Jewell's face was all over the news. He was a hero whose quick thinking may have saved dozens, if not hundreds of lives.
Three days later, the story changed. A go-to on the "hero" revealed that Jewell was a wannabe-cop who couldn't make the grade. Instead, he chose a career as an overzealous college security guard, one who took his position a little too seriously. Friends and neighbors said that he'd always fantasized about being a big hero and becoming famous. And look what happened.
Wasn't it weird, people began to ask, that he just happened to recognize that bag as a bomb when no one else did?
Suddenly the papers and networks were declaring that Jewell himself, far from being a hero, was the FBI's top suspect in the bombing. The thinking was that he wanted to be a hero so badly he created a situation in which he was certain to become one.
The media—and federal agents—hounded him, day and night, for the next several months. His home, where he lived with his mother, was surrounded and repeatedly searched. Finally, in a letter to his lawyers, the government declared that Jewell was no longer a suspect. He was free to live his life again. He promptly sued the government, NBC and a couple of papers—and won.
Before he was exonerated, most everyone simply accepted the fact that Jewell was guilty, because it was all we heard. He was an unbalanced, fat loser who lived with his mom—you know, just look at the guy—of course he did it. Until we learned he didn't.
Eight years later almost to the week, on the evening of Monday, July 19, an off-duty cop one day shy of his retirement saw a knapsack on fire in the subway. Fearing it might be a bomb, he warned everyone away from it moments before it exploded. In the end, hundreds of people were startled and terrified, thousands were inconvenienced, but the only one who was injured was the officer himself. Why, he was a hero!
Less than 24 hours later, the story had changed. A little poking revealed that Officer Joseph Rodriguez, 27, was being forcibly retired for psychiatric reasons. He apparently had some sort of breakdown following the WTC attacks, after which the NYPD took his gun and put him on desk duty. Since then, they've been waiting for his "retirement" papers to come through. (Rodriguez was supposed to sign them on Tuesday.)
Suddenly, he was the primary suspect in the investigation into the bombing.
As the days passed, more things came out about Rodriguez. He'd been institutionalized before joining the NYPD (something he failed to mention in his application). He had a lifelong obsession with cops, and always wanted to be one. Clearly, this was a loser with a screw loose. He planted that bomb in order to salvage the career he loved so much. If he saved a bunch of people from a bomb in the subway, there's no way they could force him to turn in his badge. It all fits together—of course Rodriguez is guilty.
Sound familiar?
Rodriguez might well be the guilty party. If so, it's sad. But he may not be guilty—and in that case, as in the case of Richard Jewell, the allegations being tossed about in the papers and on the television are damn near criminal.
We're not offering an opinion, one way or the other. We just think it would be wise for everyone to sit back a moment before passing judgment. Same goes for publishing it.
