Capitol Police officer hailed as hero for drawing rioters away from Senate chamber
A Capitol Hill police officer is drawing praise for leading rioters away from an entrance to the U.S. Senate chamber during last week's attacks.
A
video posted on Twitter by HuffPost's Igor Bobic shows the Black officer, identified as
Eugene Goodman, being chased by white rioters as he heads to the second floor of the Senate side of the Capitol building.
At the top of the stairs he is seen looking through an empty doorway to the left, which leads to an immediate entrance to the Senate floor where most senators, staff and roughly a dozen journalists, including this Hill reporter, were sheltering.
Goodman — after briefly placing himself between the doorway and a rioter at the front of the group identified as Doug Jensen of Iowa — then lures the mob away from the immediate entrance to the Senate chamber.
Jensen is seen looking toward the empty doorway, which would have put him within feet of an entrance to the Senate chamber. Instead, he and the rest of the mob follow Goodman around the corner to a back corridor where additional law enforcement is waiting.
Goodman's actions came as those inside the Senate chamber were racing to lock down and secure the Senate floor as rioters breached the building.
In a chaotic scene, staff scrambled to lock down several doors on the second and third floor of the Capitol that access the Senate chamber, where most lawmakers, staffers and reporters had sheltered in place after the breach of the building suspended the Senate's debate on objections to Arizona's Electoral College vote.
Inside the chamber were a handful of law enforcement officials including one officer standing between Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Democratic Leader
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in the middle of the Senate floor holding what appeared to be a semiautomatic rifle.
Rep.
Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) tweeted that Goodman "kept murderous rioters away from the Senate chamber and saved the lives of those inside. God bless him for his courage."
Meanwhile, Democratic Senate nominee Jaime Harrison urged Congressional leaders to give Goodman the Congressional Medal of Honor.
"The word hero does not appropriately describe officer Eugene Goodman. His judgment & heroism may have saved our Republic. I hope @SpeakerPelosi @SenSchumer @WhipClyburn consider him for the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is the least we can do," Harrison tweeted.
A Capitol Hill police officer is drawing praise for leading rioters away from an entrance to the U.S. Senate chamber during last week’s attack.A video posted on Twitter by HuffPost’s Ig…
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