Justice Department
- New January 6 footage shows police officers dragged and beaten by rioters outside the Capitol.
- CNN reports the officers had been seeking to help a Trump supporter who had collapsed.
- Prosecutors allege that Jack Whitton led the attack on the officers.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
New video footage released by the Justice Department shows police officers who were reportedly trying to help a Trump supporter during the January 6 insurrection being brutally attacked by rioters.
The footage is from bodycams worn by Washington DC police officers and was released by the Justice Department after CNN, NBC4, and other news outlets sued for access.
In court documents in the prosecution of rioters allegedly involved in the attack, the officers in the footage are identified only by initials.
-Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) July 9, 2021
The footage shows officers, identified as AW and BM in a tunnel area outside the Capitol.
CNN reported the officers had stepped from the area to help Trump supporter Rosanne Boyland, who collapsed and was apparently being trampled by the crowd of protesters. Boyland was later have found to have died of a drug overdose.
-Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) July 9, 2021
Prosecutors allege that the footage shows AW being forced to the ground and attacked with his own baton by defendant Jack Whitton. Another officer, BM, was pulled down a flight of stairs and into the mob, where he was beaten with weapons including a flagpole, according to documents.
AW was dragged into the crowd, stripped of police gear, and beaten with weapons. According to the documents rioters "ripped off his helmet, maced him, took his gas mask and MPD-issued cell phone, kicked him, struck him with poles, and stomped on him."
-Luke Barr (@LukeLBarr) July 9, 2021
The footage was released as part of the prosecution of Whitton, a Crossfit instructor from Georgia who has been charged with assault.
AW was seriously injured in the attack, requiring staples for a head injury, while BM received injuries to his face and shoulder.
Other footage, reported CNN, shows an officer identified as CM trying to help colleagues and is grabbed by the head and punched by a rioter.
In other footage, officers are confronted by protesters, one of whom shouts "You're going to die tonight." Whitton is alleged to have issued the threat to the officers and later, according to the prosecutors he told an associate "I fed him to the people."
563 people have been charged with offenses relating to the Capitol riot, whose seriousness some Republicans have sought to downplay in recent months.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/3k9KzGa
No comments:
Post a Comment