“I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the best of what policing is,” Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said on Sunday, three years to the day after being shot and nearly killed at a congressional baseball practice.
The “heroic actions” of the U.S. Capitol Police saved more than a dozen lives that day in 2017, Rep. Scalise said in an interview with Fox & Friends:
“I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the best of what policing is and as you mentioned, the United States Capitol Police, David Bailey and Crystal Griner are the epitome of what law enforcement officers around this country are like, and the heroism that they display. And they saved over a dozen lives that day in their heroic actions.”
“Bad apples” in the police force need to be rooted out – but, defunding or abolishing the police isn’t the solution to police brutality, Scalise said:
“It really misses the mark of what we need to do to be making reform, to continue to fight for equality and justice while at the same time recognizing that every day there are police officers who save lives, who ran into the fire in 9/11, who do the heroic things.”
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“Obviously, if there are bad apples, you've got to root out the bad apples. But, recognizing that, by and large the lion’s share of police officers in this country put on their badge every day and risk their lives to protect us in our communities.”
Rep. Scalise said passing police reform legislation shouldn’t be a divisive issue, since the nation has come together to condemn the death in police custody of Minnesotan George Floyd:
“There are a lot of ideas that have been talked about that have support of people across the spectrum. We ought to be doing that, again, not making it a divisive debate, it shouldn't be a divisive debate. I think after George Floyd you saw everybody come together and say, ‘That was wrong and bad cops need to be held accountable like anybody else.’”