Mall Cop - Notable Security Guards

Notable Security Guards

• The security guard Frank Wills detected the June 17, 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., ultimately leading to the resignation of Richard M. Nixon as President of the United States.
• Christoph Meili, night guard at a Swiss bank, became a whistle blower in 1997. He told about the bank destroying records related to funds of Holocaust victims, whose money the bank was supposed to return to their heirs.
• In 1999, Pierlucio Tinazzi rescued 10 victims from the Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire, before dying while trying to rescue an 11th.
• In 2001, Gary Coleman, former child actor, was employed as a shopping mall security guard in the Los Angeles area. While shopping for a bullet-resistant vest for his job, Coleman assaulted a female autograph collector. Coleman said he felt "threatened by her insistence" and punched her in the head. He was later charged for the assault and ordered to pay her $1,665 for hospital bills.
• Derrick Brun, an unarmed security guard employed by the Red Lake School District in Minnesota, was praised by President Bush for his heroic role in protecting children during the 2005 Red Lake High School Massacre: "Derrick's bravery cost him his life, and all Americans honor him".
• Armed security guard Jeanne Assam. In 2007, Matthew Murray fatally shot two and wounded two others at the Youth With A Mission retreat center in Arvada Colorado. A few hours later he fatally shot two others and wounded another three in the New Life Church parking lot. When Murray entered the church, he was met by armed security guard Jeanne Assam, who ordered him to drop his weapon. Assam shot and wounded Murray when he failed to comply. The pastor of New Life Church credited Assam with saving over 100 lives.
• Richard Jewell, a security guard at Atlanta, Georgia's Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics who was wrongly accused of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. Jewell was later cleared of those charges, and was in fact the one who saved hundreds of lives when he first noticed the suspicious package and got the area evacuated. Jewell later successfully sued several news agencies who reported him as the criminal prior to having the facts. Jewell also successfully sued media outlets for reporting that he was the bomber before the investigation proved he was, in fact, the hero and not the criminal.