She Was Taken to the Wrong Hospital While Her Husband Died | Part 1
Heroes Behind the Badge · Citizens Behind the Badge
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Show Notes
On August 24, 1984, U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Chris Eney was shot and killed in a training exercise — accidentally, by a fellow officer and friend. When his wife Vivian got the call, she was told someone was coming to take her to him. They took her to the wrong hospital. By the time she reached the right one, Chris was gone.
What followed was a cascade of institutional failures. No death benefits — the federal PSOB had been inadvertently written to exclude federal officers. Over 1,000 hours of her husband's unpaid comp time, gone. Everything in his name. Vivian even owed inheritance tax on assets that were hers. She took her 9 and 11-year-old daughters door-to-door on Capitol Hill and spent more than two years fighting Congress for what she was owed.
This first part of a two-part conversation also covers COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors), how survivor community helped Vivian heal, and a quiet moment with her daughter that captures exactly what it means to carry grief forward.
In Part 2: Vivian reveals how she shaped the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial — and wrote the inscription on its wall that has moved thousands of officers to tears.
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