House Minority Whip Steve Scalise paid fitting tribute Wednesday to a person without whose courage he and perhaps numerous other representatives and staffers probably would have died two years ago this Friday.
Scalise and several others were shot by a left-wing terrorist on June 14, 2017 while practicing for the annual congressional charity baseball game. Scalise came within minutes of dying from his serious internal injuries, and he underwent numerous surgeries and painful rehabilitation afterwards. By all accounts, the gunman was only stopped from getting even more shots off at the Republican congressmen by the quick action of two members of Scalise’s security detail, Crystal Griner and David Bailey. Both of them were injured in an ensuing gun battle.
While practicing for this year’s game with a permanent limp from the incident, Scalise took time out to honor Griner — and then tweeted about it. “The best of law enforcement was on display that day,” Scalise said. “You make not only the United States Capitol Police proud, but every man and woman who puts on a badge and goes to risk their lives to protect communities can be proud to know that, that day, the Capitol Police were the epitome of what’s great about law enforcement.”
Scalise is right, of course. What Griner and Bailey did was heroic. And what honest police all across the country do every day is to put themselves in position where they, too, might need to be heroic. Bless them all.
Meanwhile, we should also remember that Scalise himself is virtually a walking miracle, a testament to the wonders of modern medicine and the otherworldly skills of talented trauma surgeons. And, not least, a testament to his own determination. Scalise always has been a proverbial happy warrior, upbeat and engaging and indefatigable….
[The full column is at this link.]
