Recently-released surveillance video from inside the lower west terrace tunnel at the Capitol building from last January 6 confirms what American Greatnesshas reported for months: law enforcement officers from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police led a brutal assault against Trump supporters trapped inside that tunnel during the Capitol protest.
The three-hour clip offers one angle of what happened between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the tunnel, the site of the most violent clashes between police and protesters. It also is the location where Rosanne Boyland, a Trump supporter from Georgia, died.
One clip shows the attack on Victoria White, a Minnesota mother of four who was viciously beaten by at least two D.C. Metro officers including a supervisor:
The video supports what White told me in a series of interviews earlier this month; she was repeatedly beaten on the head with a baton and punched directly in the face numerous times by police. One officer grabbed her by the hair and shook her head side to side. Government charging documents, however, claim White—who is 5’6”, weighs 155 pounds, and had no weapon—was the aggressor:
“By approximately 4:07 p.m., WHITE’s red cap had fallen off, she lost her black coat, and she can be seen inside the entranceway grabbing for one of the MPD officers standing on a ledge,” an FBI investigator wrote in a 12-page complaint. “As the video progresses, the MPD officers attempt to push WHITE back with their riot shields and fend her off with a baton. WHITE is seen in a red sweater, and it appears that she is attempting to grab a shield and uses her hand to block the baton.”
White, bleeding from the head in a photo included in the complaint, was transported to a D.C. police station and released the evening of January 6. The FBI raided her home and took her into custody on April 8; in September, a grand jury indicted White on four counts including disorderly conduct.
Darth Crypto, an anonymous Twitter account with access to the video footage, produced a separate clip showing a police officer punching another unidentified woman in the face:
An officer standing on a ledge inside the tunnel sprayed pepper spray and attacked two women within a matter of minutes, hitting one woman attempting to escape the melee with his baton and stomping another woman on the head after she fell down from the force of the crowd:
Another unidentified person—it’s hard to determine from the grainy footage whether it is a man or woman—trapped in the lower-left corner of the tunnel is beaten by other officers at the mouth of the tunnel. When someone outside of the tunnel attempts to drag the person out, an officer pulls the person back into the corner of the tunnel and traps him/her with a riot shield to endure more beatings.
Protesters witnessing the brutality confronted and attacked officers in return. Shortly before 4:30 p.m., Rosanne Boyland’s lifeless body was face-up on the ground outside the tunnel. Her friend, Justin Winchell, begged for help. “She’s dead, she’s dead!” he screamed, according to body-worn camera footage.
In April, the D.C. Medical Examiner’s office concluded Boyland died of an accidental drug overdose; her family reportedly has hired an investigator to find out the real cause of her death.
Police began attacking crowds of protesters peacefully assembled outside the Capitol building around 1:15 p.m. on January 6, shortly after President Trump finished his speech at the Ellipse. Capitol Police deployed tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd while D.C. Metro police threw flashbangs and sting balls filled with rubber bullets, which prompted many of the initial confrontations between police and protesters.
Michael Byrd, a lieutenant with Capitol police, shot Ashli Babbitt at near point-blank range, killing her just outside the Speaker’s Lobby at 2:43 p.m. on January 6.
At least two January 6 defendants charged with assaulting police officers will accuse law enforcement of excessive force that day and cite self-defense as a reason for their conduct. The Justice Department has asked a judge to prevent one January 6 defendant from presenting “any evidence that he had a reasonable belief that his actions were necessary to defend himself against the immediate use of unlawful force.” Prosecutors also want to conceal the names of officers involved in any altercations with protesters on January 6.
Defense lawyers expect the release of more surveillance videos over the next few months.
No officer on duty that day has been charged with unlawful force; three D.C. Metro and one Capitol Police officer reportedly have committed suicide since January 6.