Republican Florida Rep. Greg Steube announced on Monday that the Good Samaritan who called 911 after the lawmaker fell 25 feet from a ladder outside his home will be his “official guest” to attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next week.
“While I will still be in Sarasota recovering from my injuries, it is my privilege to share that Mr. Darrell Woodie will be attending next week’s State of the Union as my official guest!” Steube wrote on Twitter.
“Mr. Woodie called 911 after witnessing my accident and is the epitome of a Good Samaritan!” he added.
Steube sustained multiple injuries on Jan. 18 after falling from a 25-foot ladder while cutting tree limbs on his Sarasota property, Fox 13 News reported.
The lawmaker stayed overnight in intensive care and remained in the hospital for four days under medical supervision for a fractured pelvis, punctured lung, and several torn ligaments in his neck, according to a Jan. 23 post made to the congressman’s Twitter account.
Woodie, a part-time field representative for Republican Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, was working his second job as an Amazon delivery driver, the Herald-Tribune reported. He was leaving a home near Steuben’s property when he saw the fall and called 911.
According to the Tribune, when the dispatcher asked Woodie what caused the fall, he said, “A branch hit the ladder, took him out.”
“When I saw Congressman Steube fall, I wanted to help him immediately,” Woodie said in a statement released by Buchanan’s office, according to the Tribune. “It’s extremely fortunate that I was there to witness the accident and was able to call 911 and help get the Congressman the care he needed.”
Steube, 44, is an Army veteran who served “with distinction” from 2004–2008 as an Airborne Infantry officer and in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, according to his official website.
He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 representing Florida’s 17th district, which extends down the west coast of the state from Sarasota to the Fort Myers area. This month marked the start of his third term.
On the day after the accident, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy appointed Steube to the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, according to a post McCarthy made to Twitter, adding that “he is eager to get back to work!”
Biden will deliver his second State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 7 starting at 9 p.m. ET.
From NTD News
