A Pennsylvania state police trooper who was shot in a 2014 ambush has had his right leg amputated below the knee.
Trooper Alex Douglass underwent the surgery this week at a New York City hospital.
His friend Earl Granville said Friday that Douglass had been having some medical complications with his leg and decided to have it amputated to improve his quality of life.
This photo provided by Earl Granville, Alex Douglass, right, poses with Earl Granville after his surgery at the Hospital of Special Surgery in Manhattan on Dec. 12, 2018 in New York. Douglas, the Pennsylvania state police trooper who was shot in a 2014 ambush has had his right leg amputated below the knee. Granvillle is a veteran who lost his leg in 2008 when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. An acquaintance connected the two when Douglass expressed interest in doing a marathon, knowing Granville had completed several since being wounded. (Earl Granville via AP)
"As an athlete, it will be better for him in the long run," Granville said. "This will give him an opportunity to do what he loves again."
Granville is a veteran who lost his leg in 2008 when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. An acquaintance connected the two when Douglass expressed interest in doing a marathon, knowing Granville had completed several since being wounded. The two, both of Scranton, completed the New York City Marathon handcycle event in 2015, he said.
Douglass has run marathons in the past, and Granville said he knows his friend would love to do so again and should be able to with a prosthetic.
This photo provided by Earl Granville shows Granville posing with Alex Douglass, right, poses with Earl Granville at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia in Sept. 2018. Douglas, the Pennsylvania state police trooper who was shot in a 2014 ambush has had his right leg amputated below the knee. Granvillle is a veteran who lost his leg in 2008 when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. An acquaintance connected the two when Douglass expressed interest in doing a marathon, knowing Granville had completed several since being wounded. (Earl Granville via AP)
Douglass is in great spirits, he said.
"His attitude has been phenomenal. It's something we could all admire," Granville said.
Douglass was wounded when Eric Frein opened fire at the Blooming Grove state police barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania in September 2014. Cpl. Bryon Dickson II, a married father of two, was killed.
Frein then led authorities on a 48-day manhunt through the rugged Pocono Mountains before U.S. marshals caught him at an abandoned airplane hangar. He was convicted in 2017 and is on death row for the slayings.
He's seeking a new trial.
This story has been corrected to show Douglass did the New York City Marathon handcycle event in 2015, not last month.
TOKYO (AP) — The American envoy to the United Nations called Friday for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.
“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in every corner of the world,” she said after a tour of the atomic bomb museum.
“For those of us who already have those weapons, we must pursue arms control. We can and must work to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place to ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.
Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield's visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will be a strong message in promoting momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time the world faces a severe environment surrounding atomic weapons.”
Oishi said he conveyed to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need of nuclear disarmament.
Thomas-Greenfield's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington's trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met with defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.
The ambassador said the United States is looking into setting up a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to step up U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile testing since 2022, underscoring a deepening divide between permanent Security Council members over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, though it is uncertain if that is possible.
The U.N. Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until last month, when Russia vetoed another renewal.
In its most recent report, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its weapons development.
The United States, Japan and South Korea have been deepening security ties amid growing tension in the region from North Korea and China.
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, speaks to Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, second right, as they wait for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, right, walk to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, talk prior to a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
