“She had just started to cry and kept asking, ‘Why is this happening? Why are they doing this to him?’” Emma Jablonski's mom told Inside Edition.
Americans watched the Capitol invasion in horror, and one image of an officer being crushed by the mob was particularly disturbing to a 10-year-old girl in Montana. Emma Jablonski wrote a get well note to the officer, and now he’s getting a chance to say thank you.
Emma watched the footage on TV from her home in Billings.
“She had just started to cry and kept asking, ‘Why is this happening? Why are they doing this to him?’” Emma’s mom told Inside Edition.
So she decided to write a letter to the officer and included some adorable artwork, as well as a care package of souvenirs from Montana. Emma said she wrote the letter "to make him feel better about himself and that there's somebody who doesn't like him being hurt."
The officer, Daniel Hodges of the D.C. Metro Police, received the letter and was touched by the sweet gesture. He shared details of the horrifying experience at the hands of the mob.
“They were all shouting at us, calling us traitors, telling us to remember our oaths,” Hodges said. “I think you see someone in the video who rips my gas mask off. He's also able to rip away my baton to beat me with it. I thought, well, this might be it. This might be the end for me.”
Hodges is now on the mend, ready to go back to work and grateful for little Emma.
“She was a real sweetheart. I was really touched that she thought to write a letter to me. And I was so happy to read it and let her know that I was doing OK. I think it meant a lot to everyone — all the officers who fought that day,” Hodges said.
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