The U.S. Capitol Police officer who is being hailed a “hero” has been rewarded twice over since Jan. 6: Officer Eugene Goodman was given a promotion, and he received the esteemed honor of escorting Vice President Kamala Harris to the inauguration on Wednesday, Jan. 20.
Goodman is the Capitol cop seen in many videos leading a mob of White insurrectionists away from the Senate chambers, possibly saving lives, according to CBS News.
Exactly two weeks after the riot, Goodman was seen on live national television as a part of a security detail that escorted then VP-elect Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, to the citadel of American democracy.
As a twist of delicious irony, Goodman was leading Harris to the very site of the inauguration — the U.S Capitol — where domestic White terrorists attempted to stop the transfer of power from happening in the first place.
Two weeks ago #EugeneGoodman led an angry mob of white men away from the Vice President in the Capitol…
Today he led the first black woman Vice President into the Capitol…
This. Is. America. pic.twitter.com/4iccKT4r3h— Carlos Whittaker (@loswhit) January 20, 2021
Goodman, a U.S. Army veteran who served tours of duty in danger zones in the Middle East, is being recommended for a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor that Congress can bestow upon a civilian.
The bipartisan bill is being shepherded through the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Charlie Crist, D-Florida, Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Missouri, and Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, CBS News reports.
“The United States Capitol was under attack by armed, violent extremists, and Officer Eugene Goodman was the only thing standing between the mob and the United States Senate,” Crist said, according to the television station. “I shudder to think what might have happened had it not been for Officer Goodman’s fast thinking and commitment to his duty and his country.”
