NC trooper honored for bravery, survived being shot during traffic stop
Sen. Thom Tillis presented the Congressional Badge of Bravery to Daniel Harrell, who was seriously injured during a Jan. 14, 2019, traffic stop.
Posted — Updated“He stopped. I stopped behind him,” Harrell told the North Carolina Department of Transportation in 2019. “Just as I was about to get out of my car, he leaned out the window and fired approximately four times, striking me in the corner of the lip and just above my eye.”
Harrell, who was seriously injured during that Jan. 14, 2019, traffic stop was presented Monday with the Congressional Badge of Bravery.
Congressman G.K. Butterfield and Sen. Thom Tillis were on hand. State troopers lined the auditorium at Wilson Community College.
“Without question, your acts of heroism, Trooper Harrell, on Jan. 14, 2019, your acts were just above and beyond the call of duty,” Butterfield said.
Harrell walked sat in the front row to listen to the lawmakers praise his determination and courage. He walked onto the stage where Tillis placed the medal over his head, then returned to his seat to rousing applause.
In honoring Harrell, lawmakers also spoke of the men and women who took the same risks in the line of duty and weren’t able to make it home.
Harrell, bleeding heavily and miles away at home when he was shot, said the thought of his pregnant wife and their first daughter kept him going.
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