On a road in Iraq, a live bomb waited to blow up as a convoy of American private security contractors rolled toward it.
In that moment, early in the Iraq war, James E. “Jimmy” Griffin Jr. was more vulnerable than nearly everyone else on the Blackwater security team:
Both Griffin and his front-seat passenger were closest to the improvised explosive device.
Meanwhile, their ride, a Chevy Tahoe, was the only vehicle in the column without armor.
Griffin, a retired trooper from the Rhode Island State Police, made an instinctive judgment, rejecting his brake pedal and opting for aggressive acceleration.
He sped toward – and right over – the lethal IED.
It blew about three seconds later. At that point, the blast was safely behind the Tahoe.
That account was shared with The Providence Journal on Thursday by Frank Gallagher, a security expert who managed Griffin and small group of other security contractors as they protected the highest-ranking U.S. government official in Iraq in 2004.
Gallagher is among friends and colleagues who are remembering Griffin’s larger-than-life exploits, some of them quite action-packed – while mourning his death at age 61.
A 50-year-old Cranston man struck the southbound SUV in a collision that sent the Escalade veering across a grassy median and head-on into a Jaguar XJ, according to a Massachusetts State Policereport on the crash.
The Jaguar driver died soon afterward at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, the report said.
More:Bristol police shoot suspect in the police station parking lot. What we know.
But Griffin held on for many weeks as people he worked with, from Gallagher to colleagues who served with Griffin during his 15 years with the Rhode Island State Police, hoped for the best. He died on Oct. 6.
His funeral, for friends and family, is scheduled for Saturday morning.
Cumberland High School alum protected Jay-Z, Beyoncé, members of the Saudi royal family
Griffin’s obituary describes the eclectic path that the Cumberland High School graduate and University of Rhode Island alum followed after his stint with the state police.
After working with Gallagher in Iraq, Griffin provided security for Saudi Arabia’s royal family, the House of Saud, for seven years, said the obituary.
Then he set up his own private security company, which provided protection to celebrities.
Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Drake were among them, along with other unnamed “award-winning hip-hop, R&B and rap artists,” according to the obituary.
In 2013, The Providence Journal reported that Griffin, who had left the state police on a disability pension, had played a financial role in the establishment of the Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center, loaning $1.6 million to the center for initial capital and operating needs and charging an interest rate of 9%.
More:RI man accused of shooting hawks to protect squirrels in court Thursday. Here’s what happened.
A former state police colonel remembers Griffin for his loyalty
On Thursday, Steve O’Donnell, a former superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, recalled Griffin’s loyalty as a friend and colleague. They were in the same training class back in 1987.
One of Griffin’s specialty areas was working with K-9s.
Griffin “was a guy who beat to his own drum,” said O’Donnell, adding that he believed Griffin’s mental strengths and social skills bolstered his successes after he left the state police.
Griffin decided whom he liked on his own, and he wasn’t the type to be influenced by someone else after that, O’Donnell said.
“Whoever he met,” said O’Donnell, “if he liked you, he was your biggest supporter.”
‘Protecting the Most Threatened Man in the World’
One of the people Griffin met was Gallagher, who later co-authored a book about the team’s efforts to protect L. Paul Bremer, who ran the Coalition Provisional Authority after the United States’ 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Its title was: “The Bremer Detail: Protecting the Most Threatened Man in the World.”
Griffin met Bremer, who lauds Gallagher’s account in a quote published on the cover. He also compliments the team that Griffin was part of.
“On a number of occasions,” Bremer writes ” … Gallagher and his team literally saved lives – mine and others’ – through their quick and professional reactions to danger.”
Gallagher said he wasn’t sure how Griffin ended up on the team in the first place.
“I’m just glad he did show up,” said the Marine, who once directed security for former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.
One of Griffin’s responsibilities involved K-9 work. His sidekick was a bomb-sniffing Labrador named Charlie, said Gallagher.
Most of Griffin’s work with Gallagher, for Blackwater, took place before incidents that marred the firm’s reputation, according to a review of the book in the Journal of Strategic Security.
Griffin, who was “absolutely fearless,” routinely volunteered for dangerous assignments that he wasn’t obligated to join under his contract, Gallagher said.
On one of those missions, he was aboard a Black Hawk that nearly flew into a mountain.
“He was a great guy,” Gallagher said. “I really enjoyed working with him.”
