9-11 and Christopher Suprun
In 2016 a member of our Board of Directors, Chris Suprun, was nominated and later elected to the Texas Electoral College. While many are not familar and ask the question how does the Electoral College work or what is the Electoral College map, Mr. Suprun had a front row seat to Electoral College history as the faithless elector 2016.
We will not address his political choice to be a faithless elector – only that under existing law – his vote in the Electoral College was his choice. There is no faithless elector penalty in Texas.
We hope he would exercise the same judgement in that and other political capacities as he has in a public safety career that has spanned nearly thirty years.
As a 9-11 based public charity we felt we needed to respond to allegations made against him by a local politics reporter about his status about his past résumé as an Emergency Medical Responder that effected our organization. Specifically, an allegation was made against Mr. Suprun that he was not a September 11th responder.
Our own investigation finds this assertion to be false.
ALL EVIDENCE INDICATES MR. SUPRUN BOTH RESPONDED TO THE 9-11 ATTACK ON THE PENTAGON, BUT ALSO DID SO CONSISTENT WITH HIS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED STATEMENTS ON THE ISSUE.
We believe the information below is definitive and we will have no further comment on the topic.
9-11 and Christopher Suprun – The Evidence
In the local media story it was asserted Mr. Suprun could not have been a firefighter/paramedic responder to the Pentagon on 9-11 because he did not start employment as a firefighter until October 2001.
This is inaccurate. It misses the fact that Mr. Suprun spent nearly a decade employed as a volunteer firefighter/paramedic.
An officer with the Dale City Volunteer Fire Department issued a statement on a Firehouse.com platform stating that their volunteer organization sent multiple resources to the 9-11 tragedy. This post was from September 12, 2001.
Secondary to the asserted controversy Dale City Volunteer Fire Department issued a statement stating Mr. Suprun was a member in good standing at the time of the 9-11 attack.
There multiple pieces of documentation from the time period that indicate Mr. Suprun was a responder to the 9-11 attack on the Pentagon.
They include a class evaluation from students at The George Washington University.
They include a memorandum two years later from his paid department he joined in October 2001, thanking him for his service in setting up an Honor Guard event as the only member of the department who responded.
They include notes of thanks from members of the public.
Most importantly though the FBI requested responders who had a camera with them to turn in their devices for any evidentiary value.
Mr. Suprun complied with this request. We have documentation from the FBI FOIA request he turned in his camera at the time.
9-11 and Christopher Suprun – A Lifetime of Community Service
Finally, the reporter in question refused to correct, retract, or otherwise modify the story despite new information that contradicted his reporting.
He stated that Suprun did not list the volunteer department on a résumé and therefore he did not serve at the Pentagon.
We have found numerous profiles on Facebook and Twitter claiming to be Mr. Suprun that all were created after his Electoral College announcement in the New York Times. Coincidentally, none of those mention his service with Dale City Volunteer Fire Department or his appointments to the Fairfax Area Commission on Aging, Fairfax County Human Services Council, Fairfax County Environmental Quality Advisory Council, Prince William County Library Board, or the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board.
In addition to the above documentary evidence Mr. Suprun has been recognized for his work as a responder by our peer organization, The Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation, whose award included steel from the World Trade Centers and Mr. Suprun has also been in recognized by both his birth state of Virginia and his home state of Texas for his service.
We recognize reporting is difficult during the best of times. However, we also know that the 2016 election was affected by disinformation multiple ways. We are sorry this reporter chose to under research a piece he went live with prior to better validating information.
Mr. Suprun should not have been attacked or dragged through the mud for allegations which are able to be proven false and we have done so here.
Mr. Suprun whether you agree with his political stances or not is what he always has been – a servant of the community at large. We are pleased he has helped guide us and for his service training tens of thousands of responders over the past few years on best practices, more than twenty thousand school children on overcoming adversity and challenge using lessons from 9-11, and providing free CPR training to approximately fourteen hundred neighors who are now invested and trained in how to save a life.
