Four officers shared the violence and harassment they endured while defending the U.S. Capitol from insurrectionists, as the House select committee investigates the January 6 attack.
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00:00I heard chanting from some in the crowd, get his gun and kill him with his own gun.
00:05I was electrocuted again and again. I'm sure I was screaming,
00:10but I don't think I could even hear my own voice.
00:17But this is now effectively a riot. 1349 hours declaring it a riot.
00:22Police barricades which had been abandoned and hundreds of angry protesters,
00:27many of whom taunted us as we walked towards the Capitol building.
00:35I was stunned by what I saw
00:39and what seemed like a sea of people. Capitol police officers and metropolitan police officers,
00:45MPD, were engaged in desperate hand-to-hand fighting with rioters across the West Lawn.
00:51Eventually there is a surge in the crowd. The fence buckled and broke apart
00:56and we were unable to hold the line. A chaotic melee ensued. Terrorists pushed through the line
01:02and engaged us in hand-to-hand combat. Several attempted to knock me over and steal my baton.
01:09One latched onto my face and got his thumb in my right eye, attempting to gouge it out.
01:15I cried out in pain and managed to shake him off before any permanent damage was done.
01:20The mob brought weapons to try to accomplish their insurrectionist objectives
01:25and use them against us. These weapons included hammers, rebars, knives, batons,
01:34and police shields taken by force, as well as bear spray and pepper spray.
01:41The rioters called me a traitor,
01:43a disgrace, and shouted that I, I, an army veteran and a police officer, should be executed.
01:57As my police body-worn camera shows, thousands upon thousands of people seemingly determined
02:04to get past us by any means necessary. At some point during the fighting, I was driving
02:10At some point during the fighting, I was dragged from the line of officers
02:14and into the crowd. I heard someone scream, I got one!
02:23Some of them were dressed like members of a militia group,
02:27wearing tactical vests, cargo pants, and body armor.
02:31Based on the coordinated tactics we observed and verbal commands we heard,
02:36it appears that many of these attackers had low enforcement or military experience.
02:42The rioters were vicious and relentless.
02:49One woman in a pink MAGA shirt yelled, you hear that guys? This n****r voted for Joe Biden.
02:57Then the crowd, perhaps around 20 people, joined in screaming, boo!
03:02I was particularly shocked at seeing the insurrectionists violently
03:09attack us with the very American flag that they claim to, sought to protect.
03:20In the fight, a terrorist is knocked to the ground and his jacket rides up, exposing a large
03:24hunting knife on his belt. I, along with several other officers, piled on him, while another
03:28removed the knife from his person. He regained himself unharmed and shouts indignantly,
03:33what are you doing? What are you guys doing?
03:35Directly in front of me, a man seized the opportunity of my vulnerability,
03:39grabbed the front of my gas mask and used it to beat my head against the door.
03:43He switched to pulling it off my straps, stretching against my skull and straining my neck.
03:47Heard specific threats to the lives of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then also Vice President Mike Pence.
03:56Where are you Nancy? We're looking for you.
03:58They're going in the doors trying to find her now.
04:01If you shoot us, we all have weapons, we will shoot back. Or we'll get our guns, we outnumber you.
04:13Even during this intense contest of wills, they tried to convert us to their cult.
04:18One man shouted, we all just want to make our voices heard and I think you feel the same.
04:22All while another man attempts to batter us with a stolen shield.
04:25What happened afterwards is much less vivid.
04:28I had been beaten unconscious and remained so for more than four minutes.
04:32As the afternoon wore on, I was completely drained both physically and emotionally
04:39and in shock and total disbelief over what had happened.
04:46It has been 202 days since 850 MPD officers responded to the Capitol.
04:52And helped stop a violent insurrection from taking over this Capitol complex.
04:58Which almost certainly saved countless members of Congress
05:02and their staff from injury and possibly death.
05:06The time to fully recognize these officers is now.