She Was Taken to the Wrong Hospital While Her Husband Died | Part 1
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.
👍 If you support law enforcement stories told with honesty and context, like, subscribe, and share.
🔔 Turn on notifications so you don't miss Part 2 — Vivian's story isn't over yet.
#LawEnforcement, #TrueCrime, #FirstResponders, #PoliceStories, #HeroesBehindTheBadge, #CapitolPolice, #LineOfDuty, #PoliceSurvivor, #NationalPoliceMemorial, #COPS
Transcript
and this one officer, you could actually
Speaker:see the color leave his face.
Speaker:He said, "You're the one
Speaker:that wrote that over there?"
Speaker:I said, "Yes." I mean,
Speaker:tears were coming down.
Speaker:He said, "You're the one that let me know
Speaker:I don't have to die to be appreciated."
Speaker:[MUSIC]
Speaker:Vivian Eney Cross would go on to leave a
Speaker:permanent mark on one of
Speaker:America's most sacred monuments.
Speaker:But in August of 1984, she was just a
Speaker:wife waiting for her husband to come home
Speaker:from a training exercise.
Speaker:So let's go back to
Speaker:that fateful day, Vivian.
Speaker:It's August 24, 1984. Your husband is
Speaker:U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Chris Eney.
Speaker:Unfortunately, in a training exercise, he
Speaker:was shot and killed, not by a criminal,
Speaker:but unfortunately by a
Speaker:fellow officer, in fact, a friend.
Speaker:He left behind, of course, you and your
Speaker:two young daughters.
Speaker:Our guest today on Heroes Behind the
Speaker:Badge is Vivian Eney Cross.
Speaker:And what she did with that grief, that
Speaker:unbelievable grief,
Speaker:what she built from it,
Speaker:that's the story that we're going to tell
Speaker:today. That's the
Speaker:conversation that you need to hear.
Speaker:If you've ever visited D.C., the law
Speaker:enforcement memorial wall, Judiciary
Speaker:Square in Washington, D.C.,
Speaker:unfortunately, there are over 24,000
Speaker:names inscribed on that
Speaker:wall of fallen officers.
Speaker:Okay? But there's also an inscription,
Speaker:and there are four lions
Speaker:that guard the memorial wall.
Speaker:And one of the lions on the west, the
Speaker:northwest side of the
Speaker:memorial, has an inscription.
Speaker:And it's important to know what that was.
Speaker:It's not how these officers
Speaker:died that made them heroes.
Speaker:It's how they lived. And you know, I've
Speaker:been to the memorial hundreds of times.
Speaker:I saw the inscription. I saw the name,
Speaker:but I never was able
Speaker:to put it with a face.
Speaker:So today, finally, that is your
Speaker:inscription. It is inscribed on the
Speaker:marble walls of the Law
Speaker:Enforcement Memorial. So I'd like to
Speaker:start today by asking you
Speaker:about Chris. You know, on Heroes
Speaker:Behind the Badge podcast, we talk about
Speaker:people who've done heroic
Speaker:things, people who have paid
Speaker:the ultimate price, but we oftentimes
Speaker:don't talk about how they
Speaker:lived. Let's take it right from
Speaker:your quote. Talk to us about Chris and
Speaker:how he lived. He was a
Speaker:good man. He had integrity.
Speaker:And we met in high school, dated on and
Speaker:off. And then after high school, he
Speaker:joined the army with
Speaker:my brother. And he went into Green
Speaker:Berets. And he was a Special Forces medic
Speaker:that he never left the
Speaker:United States. It was the height of the
Speaker:war. So it just God must
Speaker:have said, no, not this time.
Speaker:So he did that. And then after he got
Speaker:back, we got pregnant and
Speaker:then he wanted to look for a
Speaker:serious job. And there was a gentleman at
Speaker:our church that was a
Speaker:deputy chief, Yancey Garner.
Speaker:And he knew him and talked to him. And he
Speaker:was the influence for him to
Speaker:go on over to Capitol Police
Speaker:and to get on that department.
Speaker:And interesting. How long had he served?
Speaker:How long was Capitol Police?
Speaker:12 and a half years.
Speaker:12 and a half years. Do you recall any of
Speaker:his recollections about
Speaker:what it was like to police
Speaker:the U.S. Capitol? You know, one of the
Speaker:most prestigious police
Speaker:positions you can have.
Speaker:How did he feel about that?
Speaker:He was very serious about his job there.
Speaker:He had the privilege of guarding and
Speaker:keeping the U.S. Capitol.
Speaker:And it was an honor for him to do that.
Speaker:Indeed. Indeed. Craig Floyd, one of our
Speaker:co-hosts. Hey, Craig. Hello, Craig.
Speaker:Dennis.
Speaker:And Billy's here too. Billy Erfurth. We
Speaker:got the whole crew here
Speaker:for Vivian. Everybody.
Speaker:Everybody showed up. Craig has some
Speaker:particularly poignant memories.
Speaker:He has a lot of history. Obviously, he's
Speaker:the founder of the
Speaker:memorial and had a long history
Speaker:there. And you and Craig know each other
Speaker:pretty well. I'd love to
Speaker:hear Craig and you maybe have
Speaker:some conversations about some of the
Speaker:things that you guys
Speaker:experienced together.
Speaker:Let me start with a story very briefly,
Speaker:but so powerful. And for me, especially,
Speaker:I had the privilege of working for
Speaker:Congressman Mario Biaggi, who introduced
Speaker:the bill to authorize
Speaker:a national law enforcement officers
Speaker:memorial to be built. And that happened
Speaker:in 1984, the same year
Speaker:Vivian's husband, Chris, died in the line
Speaker:of duty. And so a year
Speaker:later in May, there was a group
Speaker:called Concerns of Police Survivors that
Speaker:was fledgling. It had
Speaker:just started. Susie Sawyer
Speaker:was their founder and executive director.
Speaker:And Susie said, Craig,
Speaker:come and talk to this group of
Speaker:surviving family members that had
Speaker:gathered really for the
Speaker:first time in Washington, D.C.
Speaker:for National Police Week and tell them
Speaker:about this memorial that
Speaker:Congressman Biaggi has now
Speaker:authorized through law. And so I gave a
Speaker:nice speech about the new
Speaker:law, about this memorial
Speaker:that was going to be built to honor the
Speaker:men and women who had
Speaker:died in the line of duty.
Speaker:And I felt pretty good. You know, got a
Speaker:nice ovation. I think
Speaker:people were pretty happy with
Speaker:the message I delivered. Went back to my
Speaker:office and a couple hours
Speaker:later, the phone rings. And
Speaker:it's Vivian Eney calling me. And I
Speaker:thought, oh, you know, she's a survivor.
Speaker:I'm sure she's going
Speaker:to thank me and say all these nice
Speaker:things. That didn't actually happen.
Speaker:Vivian was a rather angry,
Speaker:rather bitter. She had lost her husband.
Speaker:I told her how much
Speaker:America cared, how much Congress
Speaker:cared. And that's why we are building
Speaker:this memorial. And
Speaker:Vivian's experience was not so
Speaker:positive. She did not feel that those
Speaker:words really were authentic and true. And
Speaker:she more or less read
Speaker:me the riot act a bit. Fended, you know,
Speaker:and I was the target, but I
Speaker:knew she wasn't venting at
Speaker:me. She was just getting it off her
Speaker:system. But Vivian taught me something
Speaker:very important that day.
Speaker:She explained to me how many cards and
Speaker:letters and phone calls she
Speaker:had gotten from members of
Speaker:Congress, from others, and how much that
Speaker:meant to her. And I
Speaker:thought to myself, my goodness,
Speaker:if a condolence card or a phone call
Speaker:could mean so much to a
Speaker:survivor who's lost a loved one,
Speaker:how much would a national monument mean?
Speaker:A national memorial?
Speaker:And for the first time,
Speaker:I think I fully appreciated the
Speaker:importance of the project that I had been
Speaker:handed by Congressman
Speaker:Biaggi. He said, "Go out and build this
Speaker:memorial." And until then, it was just
Speaker:one of many projects,
Speaker:one of many issues I was working on for
Speaker:him. But all of a sudden,
Speaker:that project rose to the top of
Speaker:the heap. And it became really my life's
Speaker:calling after that, meeting
Speaker:people like Vivian. She started
Speaker:it, and I met thousands of survivors and
Speaker:officers after that that
Speaker:reinforced her message that this
Speaker:memorial was in fact very important. But
Speaker:Vivian, I'd like you to go
Speaker:back and talk to us about the
Speaker:difference between the way survivors were
Speaker:treated in 1984, 1985, how they're
Speaker:treated today, and how
Speaker:these fallen heroes are honored today
Speaker:versus what was happening
Speaker:back in 1984, when there was no
Speaker:memorial. Good question. Yes. Well,
Speaker:Chris's death with Capitol
Speaker:Police started a nightmare that
Speaker:the department or my family didn't get
Speaker:out of quickly. The first
Speaker:inkling I had that anything
Speaker:was wrong was a phone call. I was told
Speaker:Chris was shot and to sit
Speaker:tight, somebody would pick me up
Speaker:and take me down to where he was. Well,
Speaker:I'm putting on my makeup,
Speaker:you know, thinking we're
Speaker:going to laugh about him being shot in
Speaker:the foot or something. That
Speaker:was about as far as it went.
Speaker:And they did send the officer, and he
Speaker:took me to the wrong
Speaker:hospital. And by the time I got to the
Speaker:right hospital, Chris was dead. And it
Speaker:just got worse from there.
Speaker:So many ways in the DC area,
Speaker:you fall through the cracks. We lived in
Speaker:Maryland, but there were no
Speaker:Maryland death benefits. He
Speaker:worked in DC, but not for DC. And there
Speaker:were no benefits. And
Speaker:with Capitol Police, their
Speaker:legislative and the other federal
Speaker:officers are judicial. And although they
Speaker:all give monetary for
Speaker:comp time and annual leave, legislative
Speaker:did not. So he had over
Speaker:1,000 hours of comp time
Speaker:that they wouldn't pay me for. And it was
Speaker:just crazy. Chris and
Speaker:I were not prepared.
Speaker:I mean, everything was in his name. And I
Speaker:ended up having to pay
Speaker:inheritance tax on what was mine because
Speaker:my name wasn't on any of the documents.
Speaker:It was just blow after blow after blow.
Speaker:And it really takes you to
Speaker:your knees. And then when
Speaker:a department isn't prepared, it's
Speaker:additional trauma. They're
Speaker:not. When it comes for a line of
Speaker:duty death and they haven't prepared,
Speaker:they react instead of act.
Speaker:And that's when a lot of those
Speaker:other traumas will occur. And I was. I
Speaker:was so angry and so bitter for such a
Speaker:long time. And it was
Speaker:finally my preacher during a summer
Speaker:during a sermon said, being
Speaker:bitter is like taking poison
Speaker:and waiting for somebody else to die. And
Speaker:I thought that's exactly
Speaker:what I'm doing. I'm waiting for
Speaker:somebody else to die. And that's when I
Speaker:thought I've got to get
Speaker:better. I've got to get my girls
Speaker:through this. We all have to get through
Speaker:it together. I mean,
Speaker:how old were Shannon and
Speaker:Heather, your two daughters at the time
Speaker:of Chris's death? They were nine and 11.
Speaker:Nine and 11. Here's another memory I
Speaker:have. And you can talk
Speaker:about it. You and your two,
Speaker:nine and 11 year old daughters going door
Speaker:to door on Capitol Hill,
Speaker:telling members of Congress that
Speaker:you were not able to get any federal
Speaker:death benefit. There was
Speaker:a federal death benefit in
Speaker:place at the time it was authorized in
Speaker:1976, $50,000 at the time for any
Speaker:surviving family member of
Speaker:an officer who died in the line of duty.
Speaker:But it only applied to state
Speaker:and local officers. And you
Speaker:had to go and tell members of Congress
Speaker:who Chris worked for to
Speaker:protect that you were not getting
Speaker:those benefits. You and your daughters
Speaker:were not part of that
Speaker:legislation. So tell me, and then
Speaker:that even became more of a nightmare.
Speaker:Explain that and then that journey.
Speaker:Yes, it was when I was
Speaker:told there was the PSOB.
Speaker:The PSOB. It had been
Speaker:written and unintentionally
Speaker:disclued did not include federal
Speaker:officers. And so they said, hang on,
Speaker:we're going to make it better.
Speaker:We're going through to rewrite it now.
Speaker:And so they did that and
Speaker:they made it retroactive to
Speaker:September 1st, 1984. And Chris was killed
Speaker:in October 24th, 1984.
Speaker:August 24th, yes.
Speaker:Yeah, so it was it
Speaker:was not available to me.
Speaker:Unbelievable.
Speaker:Of course, the police officers on Capitol
Speaker:Hill, they were really
Speaker:talking it up with senators and
Speaker:congressmen. I went around with the girls
Speaker:and I handed a letter
Speaker:to everybody on the Hill.
Speaker:And it took over two years to get that
Speaker:personal relief bill so
Speaker:that I could have access to
Speaker:that benefit, which I felt was mine to
Speaker:have. I didn't want anything
Speaker:wasn't do me, but I felt it was mine to
Speaker:get and help with the girls.
Speaker:We talked about the pastor helping you
Speaker:get through your grief and bitterness.
Speaker:There was another group that played a
Speaker:role in that I know. And and
Speaker:that's the concerns of police
Speaker:survivors, cops. I mentioned Susie
Speaker:Sawyer, who started that
Speaker:group in 1984. And you were one of
Speaker:the first members. You probably attended
Speaker:the first survivor
Speaker:meeting of cops in 1985.
Speaker:Talk about cops. You went on to serve as
Speaker:their national president for two years,
Speaker:not just one is typical three years. My
Speaker:goodness. All right. So you
Speaker:were there for three years as
Speaker:their president early on. Talk about how
Speaker:cops helped you and what
Speaker:cops does for other survivors.
Speaker:Well, one of the first things it does is
Speaker:you go there and
Speaker:somebody will come up to you and
Speaker:ask you about the incident that took your
Speaker:loved one's life. And
Speaker:they will say, I know.
Speaker:And you know that they know because
Speaker:they're police survivors. And to hear
Speaker:somebody say that and
Speaker:realize they really do know what I'm
Speaker:going through was
Speaker:tremendous. Just to be able to talk
Speaker:to other survivors. Some had had it worse
Speaker:than I did. Some had
Speaker:had it much better. But it
Speaker:bring it. It brought levelness to the
Speaker:whole survivor issue because
Speaker:we were all there together.
Speaker:And it was just great. It it really
Speaker:helped in me getting rid of that
Speaker:bitterness and that anger.
Speaker:And I I just felt that, well, I'm not
Speaker:doing any good to myself or my girls
Speaker:while I'm like this.
Speaker:But if I walk away from that bitterness,
Speaker:it helps me help others who are going
Speaker:through the same thing.
Speaker:And Vivian, let me jump in and ask you.
Speaker:So how did you help some
Speaker:people? I'd like to hear you.
Speaker:You talked about some had it worse. Some
Speaker:had it better. There's
Speaker:probably some really significant
Speaker:moving stories that maybe are worth
Speaker:sharing. Yes. One I think
Speaker:of. Excuse me, is Judy Welsh.
Speaker:Her husband was a D.C. police officer
Speaker:that he went into the it's off what
Speaker:street I can't think
Speaker:14th Street. Anyway, a woman who had
Speaker:escaped St. Elizabeth's had
Speaker:run to the bridge and jumped
Speaker:off the bridge and he went in after her.
Speaker:But he never surfaced. And
Speaker:Judy was eight and a half
Speaker:months pregnant when he died. And she had
Speaker:really so much support
Speaker:from the agency that it really
Speaker:helped her. I went with her when she went
Speaker:to see her husband and
Speaker:down the road, her brother
Speaker:died overseas. They're really not sure
Speaker:what caused it. I think it
Speaker:was he was involved in a band
Speaker:that was really kind of living on the
Speaker:wild side. But I went with her
Speaker:to see her brother. And you do
Speaker:that. You call them on days that you
Speaker:think maybe they want to hear somebody
Speaker:else's voice that knows,
Speaker:and it is just so meaningful. Let me tell
Speaker:you a story. When my
Speaker:daughter Heather got up the day
Speaker:that Chris was killed there on the
Speaker:kitchen table were two erasers
Speaker:that Chris had gotten her for
Speaker:her brand new chalkboard. So she sat down
Speaker:and wrote this thank you
Speaker:letter thanking him for getting
Speaker:them for her. And of course, he never got
Speaker:the letter. He was he was
Speaker:killed that day. And if you
Speaker:fast forward maybe four or five years
Speaker:later, and we're in the car,
Speaker:and Heather says, Mom, you got
Speaker:to listen to this song. And she turned it
Speaker:up. And I'm aging myself. It
Speaker:was Mike and the mechanics,
Speaker:the living years. And the voice came on
Speaker:the verse came on that said,
Speaker:I wasn't home that morning,
Speaker:my father passed away. I didn't get to
Speaker:tell him all the things I had
Speaker:to say. And so I grabbed her
Speaker:hand and I said, Well, Heather, what
Speaker:would you have said to your
Speaker:dad? And she said, I would have
Speaker:asked him to watch over me, I would have
Speaker:asked him to love me every
Speaker:day, but I would have thanked
Speaker:him for my erasers. And with that, she
Speaker:started to cry. And so I held
Speaker:her hand. And we got to where
Speaker:we were going. But when I got back to the
Speaker:house, I called another
Speaker:survivor who knew what those
Speaker:moments were like, who would talk me
Speaker:through it, not pity me, pity
Speaker:is a wasted emotion, just help
Speaker:me be and do what I need to for myself
Speaker:and my girls and others
Speaker:that are going through this.
Speaker:And so it's it's just this camaraderie
Speaker:that is based on an event that ties you
Speaker:together completely.
Speaker:And sometimes I would call people and ask
Speaker:for help. Sometimes they would call me.
Speaker:But it was a network of resources to find
Speaker:those people who really
Speaker:get you and can help you
Speaker:become what you need
Speaker:to be for your family.
Speaker:Yeah, you know, Dennis and Bill, I want
Speaker:to summarize a little bit
Speaker:of why Vivian's place in
Speaker:1985 was a little different than what a
Speaker:survivor's position might
Speaker:be today. You know, no death
Speaker:benefit, all right, for at least federal
Speaker:officers when Chris died.
Speaker:There was just a new group called
Speaker:Concerns of Police Survivors, but nobody
Speaker:yet was calling each other.
Speaker:There was no network of support
Speaker:that exists today. As Vivian describes,
Speaker:there was no National Law
Speaker:Enforcement Officers Memorial
Speaker:because it wasn't dedicated until 1991.
Speaker:Chris died in 1984. And,
Speaker:you know, so much has changed.
Speaker:There was no National Law Enforcement
Speaker:Museum. And the way we
Speaker:honor officers today is just so
Speaker:incredibly different and better than it
Speaker:was when Vivian was going
Speaker:through this grief. And I just
Speaker:want people to understand that. That's
Speaker:why, you know, survivors back in the day
Speaker:maybe felt neglected,
Speaker:felt like nobody cared, nobody
Speaker:remembered. And that's what
Speaker:Vivian taught me. And that's why
Speaker:I think that memorial has become so
Speaker:special, that museum, the COPS group, the
Speaker:death benefit, which
Speaker:today I think is well over $300,000
Speaker:because they put in a
Speaker:cost of living adjustment. So
Speaker:it is meaningful. And then there was
Speaker:another group that came
Speaker:along and helped you, Vivian.
Speaker:It was a group called Heroes. A lot of
Speaker:groups similar to Heroes
Speaker:are called 100 clubs or 200
Speaker:clubs around the country. Talk to me
Speaker:about what Heroes is and what
Speaker:it did for you and the girls.
Speaker:Well, they stay low key. At some point
Speaker:after your husband's death,
Speaker:you will go in to see them.
Speaker:And then they will let you know what they
Speaker:will be able to do for you.
Speaker:Not in the emotional realm,
Speaker:but in the realm of benefits, of house
Speaker:payments, and just a whole
Speaker:bunch of stuff they're able to do.
Speaker:And of course, it depends on
Speaker:the needs of the survivors.
Speaker:Just so people understand, this is a
Speaker:group of business leaders in
Speaker:the local community who have
Speaker:put forth money to assist surviving
Speaker:family members of public
Speaker:safety officers killed in the
Speaker:line of duty. So these are private
Speaker:individuals. They don't want a lot of
Speaker:glory or recognition,
Speaker:as Vivian mentioned, but they do assist
Speaker:you in a meaningful way.
Speaker:Absolutely. I believe they started after
Speaker:President Kennedy was
Speaker:shot. And at the same time,
Speaker:there was an officer shot. And back then,
Speaker:the only way you could
Speaker:get some support financially
Speaker:was having it in the newspaper or on the
Speaker:radio. And this officer got
Speaker:nothing because the airways
Speaker:were just full of Kennedy and all that
Speaker:was going on with that death.
Speaker:And they are just wonderful.
Speaker:I cannot tell you how good they are. I
Speaker:mean, they just listen
Speaker:to you. They very quietly
Speaker:tell you what they're
Speaker:going to do. And they do it.
Speaker:I want to just go back because it's kind
Speaker:of left me still
Speaker:wondering and wanting to ask a
Speaker:question. Clearly, a lot of the benefits
Speaker:have changed over the
Speaker:years. I mean, here in Florida,
Speaker:an officer is killed in the line of duty.
Speaker:There are so many different
Speaker:organizations that step up
Speaker:financially. They fund your children's
Speaker:college education and
Speaker:whatnot. So you took your two
Speaker:daughters around Congress and you met
Speaker:with all these folks. And I
Speaker:don't know, did you ever get
Speaker:that resolved? Did you ever get that
Speaker:money and did it ever lead to benefits
Speaker:for everybody in the
Speaker:future there? No, no, certainly they are
Speaker:handling survivors much,
Speaker:much different. I mean, much,
Speaker:much better. It is day and night
Speaker:different. They've got liaison officers
Speaker:now full time who do this
Speaker:stuff for survivors. Anything that comes
Speaker:up, they'll ask you if
Speaker:you want to go to it.
Speaker:Capitol Police has become my family. They
Speaker:are wonderful. They
Speaker:were just not aware, not
Speaker:prepared for line of duty death. And when
Speaker:it happened, it just
Speaker:things went haywire. But oh,
Speaker:yeah, the survivors. And of course,
Speaker:there's been other survivors at Capitol
Speaker:Police since Chris died.
Speaker:And although no survivor is ever going to
Speaker:say, I'm happy completely
Speaker:with what how they handled
Speaker:me because you're wrapped around this
Speaker:intense grief that comes at first. It
Speaker:just plows into you.
Speaker:And that part is difficult. But boy, do
Speaker:they treat those survivors
Speaker:better. And I am so glad they've
Speaker:got a wonderful group of officers who
Speaker:really take care of us. And it's amazing.
Speaker:You've heard how she survived. In part
Speaker:two, you'll hear how she
Speaker:shaped the memorial that
Speaker:stands today and the
Speaker:words inscribed on its wall.
Speaker:anyway.
