By Derrick Perkins
Well-wishers raised thousands of dollars for police officer Peter Laboy over the weekend as his wife, Suzanne Laboy, continues to document his recovery online.
Nearly two weeks after taxi cab driver Kashif Bashir allegedly shot Peter Laboy in the head during what authorities describe as a routine traffic stop, the injured officer is speaking, eating and walking, his wife reports.
“It’s nasty outside but the sun is shining inside,” Suzanne Laboy wrote on Tuesday. “Peter took a walk when I got here. All the way to the nursing station. He is getting stronger day by day.”
As the wounded motorcycle officer, a 17-year veteran of the department, makes progress, the community has rallied around his family. Friends hosted a fundraiser at Virtue Feed and Grain and collected about $75,000 for the Laboy family, according to the Alexandria Police Association. Organizers estimated roughly 3,000 turned out for the event.
“There isn’t words, really, to describe the outpouring of not only support, but love and sincere care we’ve received from the community members,” said Capt. Shahram Fard, a trustee with the police association, even before the fundraiser. “I hear in the hallways: ‘Wow, I didn’t realize how many people care for us, how many people support us.’”
Count Vice President Joe Biden among those keeping the Laboys and the department in his thoughts. Biden visited with the veteran officer’s colleagues in the motor unit Friday and met the first responders who treated Peter Laboy after the shooting.
Other events for the Laboys are in the works, including an April 21 fundraiser at the Kingstowne TopGolf and a March 21 blood drive at the police department’s Wheeler Avenue complex.
Bashir, who faces multiple charges for his alleged role in the shooting, will return to court next month.
