Biden invites Palatine native injured in crash to visit White House
As Jack Riedy recovers at his Palatine home from injuries suffered last month in a devastating auto accident, he has some additional motivation to get well — a personal invitation from Vice President Joe Biden to visit the White House.
Biden extended the invite in a phone call May 15 from the campus of the University of Notre Dame, where Riedy is a student and Biden was visiting to receive the Laetare Medal during the school's commencement ceremonies.
Jack, who was a junior at the time of the accident, had been looking forward to serving as a volunteer for Biden that day, along with his father, Mike. They'd arranged to be part of Biden's advance team through family friend Brian McPartlin, working for Biden as Lead Advance for the trip.
“The plan was that Jack was going to work the site and I was going to drive in the motorcade, and then Jack had his accident,” Mike Riedy said.
The accident occurred April 2, while Jack, 20, was out with his girlfriend, Mary Gring, and her father, Scott Gring. They had just visited Redamak's burgers in New Buffalo, Michigan, and were driving through nearby Niles when the car Scott Gring was driving hit black ice on a bridge over the St. Joseph River and veered into oncoming traffic.
The car was struck by another vehicle. Then, as rescue workers were attending to the scene, another car hit a fire truck, pushing it into Gring's vehicle.
Jack suffered a pelvis injury that left him unable to walk for six weeks and broke his arm in two places. Mary sustained similar injuries, while her dad hurt his arm and left knee.
Knowing that Jack's recovery would keep him from helping with Biden's visit to Notre Dame, McPartlin asked Mike Riedy if he still wanted to volunteer. Jack encouraged his father to travel to South Bend for the event.
After Mike Riedy drove Biden's staff from the South Bend airport to campus, he was able to join other volunteers that Sunday morning in a line to shake hands with the vice president.
“I shook his hand, and somebody introduced me to him, and the first thing he asked me was, 'You're Mike Riedy? How is Jack doing?' Which, you can imagine, threw me for a loop.”
He was even more surprised when Biden asked if he had a cellphone.
“So then (Biden) says, 'Let's give him a call.'”
Mike said his hands were shaking so much he could hardly dial the phone. He called the house, and Jack answered.
“And so groggily, I said, 'Hello,' and Joe Biden was on the end of the phone introducing himself as 'Joe Biden, vice president of the United States. How are you?'” Jack said.
“He was genuinely concerned about how I was doing. It was very thoughtful and really nice of him to ask.”
After Jack explained that he was making progress, Biden responded, “That's great. Well, listen, I want you to come to the White House before I leave in January.”
After Mike hung up, he said Biden looked at him and said, “Make this happen. I'm serious. I want you guys to come to Washington, and we'll give you a tour of the White House. And I'd like to meet Jack.”
Mike Riedy said he left impressed.
“He could have just shaken my hand and said thanks and moved on, but he took the time out of his busy day to call Jack and invite us out to Washington. So I think that speaks volumes to the type of person that he is,” he said.
McPartlin, a Mount Prospect resident, said he was also taken by surprise.
“I had briefed him on Jack's situation, and I had told him that Jack was supposed to help, but that his dad still wanted to be here,” he said.
Biden told him to make sure Mike would be at the end of the line, so they could talk to him for a minute.
Jack said doctors are optimistic about his prognosis, and his girlfriend and her father also are on the mend.
Double-majoring in marketing and politics at Notre Dame, Jack is looking forward to making his first trip to Washington.
“This whole extraordinary situation with Joe Biden is just like a cherry on top,” he said. “Getting a chance to kind of see ground zero for politics in this country will be really exciting.”