Richard Allensworth Jewell (born Richard White; December 17, 1962 – August 29, 2007) was an American security guard and law enforcement officer who alerted police during the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He discovered a backpack containing three pipe bombs on the park grounds and helped evacuate the area before the bomb exploded, saving many people from injury or death. For months afterward he was suspected of planting the bomb, leading to adverse publicity that "came to symbolize the excesses of law enforcement and the news media."Initially hailed by the media as a hero, Jewell was soon considered a suspect by the FBI and local law enforcement based on psychological profiling. Though never charged, Jewell underwent a "trial by media", which took a toll on his personal and professional life. He was cleared as a suspect after 88 days of public scrutiny. In 2005, Eric Rudolph confessed and pleaded guilty to that bombing and other attacks.Jewell's life has been the subject of popular culture, including the 2019 film Richard Jewell and the ten-episode drama Deadly Games, the 2020 season of the anthology series Manhunt.
