WASHINGTON — The Capitol police officer seen on video leading rioters away from the Senate chambers during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol escorted California Democrat Kamala Harris on Wednesday ahead of her inauguration as the nation’s next vice president.

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Images posted on social media showed Officer Eugene Goodman with Harris during festivities at the U.S. Capitol.

Earlier Wednesday, officials named Goodman as the new acting Senate sergeant-at-arms, making him the No. 2 security official in the Senate for Wednesday’s inauguration, according to The New York Times.

Video posted online by HuffPost politics reporter Igor Bobic showed Goodman being chased by rioters on Jan. 6, after he apparently pushed one to distract them from the doors of the Senate chamber. At the time, lawmakers who had been ratifying Biden’s 2020 presidential election win over President Donald Trump were sheltering in place in the Senate.

Last week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill to recognize Goodman’s heroism with a Congressional Gold Medal.

“He’s a hero,” Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Florida, said in a statement. “The United States Capitol was under attack by armed, violent extremists, and Officer Eugene Goodman was the only thing standing between the mob and the United States Senate. I shudder to think what might have happened had it not been for Officer Goodman’s fast thinking and commitment to his duty and his country.”

Five people died as a result of the Jan. 6 chaos at the Capitol, including Capitol police Officer Brian Sicknick. The incident prompted the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection.” Dozens of people have since been arrested.

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US Capitol protests Paramedics perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a patient on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Demonstrators breeched security and entered the US Capitol in Washington, DC, as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

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