Richard Jewell: The 60 Minutes interviews
Shortly after a pipe bomb exploded at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Games, a very public investigation incorrectly branded park security guard Richard Jewell as the suspect.
A few weeks later, as many in the country accused him and late-night shows derided him, he spoke to 60 Minutes.
"People will never forget my name," Jewell told correspondent Mike Wallace. "People will be 90 years old that were at the Olympic Games and go, 'Do you remember when that bomb went off, that Jewell fellow that they accused of that? Do you remember that?' And people will be going, 'Yeah, I remember that. Can you believe all of that?' It will never end, sir."
More than five years later, Jewell again spoke to Wallace. 60 Minutes found Jewell still tortured by his experience.
Each morning, Jewell said he checked underneath his car before he got in. He scanned the parking lot to see if anyone was watching him from a nearby car. When he returned home from work, he said he drove a different route each time in an attempt to lose people who tried to follow him. He recalled the feeling of strangers staring at him at the grocery store.
"I've never been treated like a hero," Jewell said. "Never. I don't know what a hero's treated like, but my mother and I have never been treated like that."
Jewell died in 2007. A movie based on his life opens in theaters Friday.
