Vice President Biden Visits Injured Officer's First Responders

Vice President Joe Biden visited the Alexandria Police Department last Friday, meeting with first responders who were on the scene immediately after Officer Peter Laboy was injured in Old Town.

The police department announced the news on its Facebook page.

"Vice President Joe Biden paid a visit to the Alexandria Police Department to meet with Officer Peter Laboy’s Motor Unit to express his condolences and wish him well," reads the post.

Deputy Chief Blaine Corle told Patch Tuesday evening while attending an NAACP meeting at Charles Houston Recreation Center that Biden showed “genuine concern” for Officer Laboy and his family.

Biden visited with the officers for about an hour, Corle said.

“He was very personable and the visit was purely from the heart,” Corle said, noting that media were not notified of the visit.

Corle said he spent about an hour with Laboy in the hospital Tuesday afternoon.

“I saw Peter today. He continues to progress. We are all going to stick with him,” he said.

Corle is Laboy's supervisor and has known him for the 14 years Laboy has been with the department.

Mayor Bill Euille said as of Sunday, more than $75,000 had been raised for Laboy and his family through donations and benefit events.

Euille and members of City Council attended a benefit for the Laboy family on Sunday at Virtue Feed & Grain in Old Town.

"In my entire life of living in this city and knowing how much Alexandrians do care… I’ve never seen an event like last Sunday where thousands of people, maybe four or five thousand people, waited in line to get in the restaurant to participate and make donations," Euille said. 

Euille said he has visited Laboy twice in the hospital and said the officer "is doing remarkably well in terms of his recovery." He told members of City Council that he saw Laboy sitting on the edge of his bed watching TV.

"I certainly encourage all of us to keep the prayers coming because they do indeed work," he said. 

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