I originally thought maybe “Orville” was just a lazy error, until I considered that Orville sounds more white than Orvin. Yes, it’s an amusing story, but those who just buy into it without critical thought are playing right into the hands of the racists who purposefully doctored this story. Very similar to the subtle racial slurs in the previous urban legend I wrote about, on the Medal of Honor recipient Ed Freeman, and how his story was manipulated for political slander (yeah, that’s the way to honor a war hero!) The pattern I wrote about there repeats here: it’s actually a racist propaganda screed. “Everyone” knows what race “Tyrone Jackson” is, eh? I have little doubt the name was changed because “Tracey Attaway” didn’t sound black enough. That’s not the only changed name: the suspect isn’t “Tyrone Jackson” but rather Tracey Attaway. If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice the fake story is wrong from its very first word: the store manager’s name is Orvin Smith, not “Orville”. (Um, he “fell off a curb” to get those injuries! Really! nudge-nudge, wink-wink.)Īnd indeed, I didn’t see the fake story until several weeks after True’s version came out, so perhaps one of my readers embellished it to be “How I wish it had happened.” OK, It’s Fake. Now, it’s totally possible that the fake story is True’s “fault” in that the tagline implies that the Marines would like to really beat the guy up. The tagline is my riff on what she submitted, which was “ …I know a few Marines were probably wishing he had been bailed.“) (“JW” in the source area means it was written by Jennifer Weiner, who was True’s first outside contributor. Duggan was released from the hospital the next day, but a judge didn’t allow Attaway to post bail because of his extensive criminal record. Investigators say Attaway tried to steal merchandise valued at $1,365, plus a laptop computer he left behind when he ran from store staff. The other Marines chased Attaway down, and held him for police. Phillip Duggan “clotheslined” Attaway as he tried to run by, Smith said, but Attaway “got up and started swinging a knife around.” Attaway ended up behind Duggan and stabbed him in the back, witnesses say, and then ran. When confronted by staff, Attaway “pulled out a knife so he could make sure he could get out the front door.” Outside were four Marines collecting donations for Toys for Tots. It happened 26 November 2010, and was in True’s 26 December 2010 issue:īest Buy store sales manager Orvin Smith said Tracey Attaway, 39, was shoplifting in his Augusta, Ga., store. While most of the copies I’ve seen online have no date at all (which is another good clue that it’s fake!), this did not happen last week. Here’s the story as it appeared in This is True at the time. Notice how poorly written it is: ellipses (“…”) thrown in here and there, spaces before commas, “police” is improperly capitalized, and the whole thing is not at all in newspaper style (example: AP would have abbreviated Georgia as “Ga.”) While it’s true that the AP’s standards have been slipping for a long time, they’re not that bad! Anyone with common sense should smell a rat just from the poor writing quality alone. The subject was also transported to the local hospital with two broken arms, a broken ankle, a broken leg, several missing teeth, possible broken ribs, multiple contusions, assorted lacerations, a broken nose and a broken jaw…injuries he sustained when he slipped and fell off of the curb after stabbing the Marine, according to a police report. Phillip Duggan, in the back the injury did not appear to be severe.Īfter Police and an ambulance arrived at the scene Cpl. Smith said the Marines stopped the man, but he stabbed one of the Marines, Cpl. Outside on the sidewalk were four Marines collecting toys for the “Toys for Tots” program. Orville Smith, a store manager for Best Buy in Augusta, Georgia, told police he observed a male customer, later identified as Tyrone Jackson of Augusta, on surveillance cameras putting a laptop computer under his jacket… When confronted the man became irate, knocked down an employee, drew a knife and ran for the door. It also has some profound implications on how someone is trying to manipulate you.įirst, the fake story, which I’ve seen variously attributed to the Associated Press, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and others: There’s a story that’s going around (and around, and around) that’s so full of crap, I thought it was time to set the record straight - it has turned into an urban legend.
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