For individuals who didn’t expertise the violence, Jan. 6, 2021, would possibly really feel prefer it’s prior to now — but it surely’s not for me. I preserve reliving the 5 horrific hours of that chilly Wednesday afternoon, as I attempted to guard elected officers, no matter their political ideology, and their staffs contained in the Capitol constructing — all with out firing my gun.
For my efforts doing my obligation as a Capitol Police sergeant, I used to be crushed and struck by raging rioters throughout my physique with a number of weapons till I used to be lined in my very own blood. My hand, foot and shoulder had been wounded. I believed I used to be going to die and by no means make it dwelling to see my spouse and younger son.
During the last 4 years, it’s been devastating to me to listen to Donald Trump repeat his promise to pardon insurrectionists on the first day he’s back in office. “It is going to be my nice honor to pardon the peaceable protesters, or as I usually name them, the hostages,” he said in a speech final 12 months. However all of us who had been there and anybody who watched on TV know that those that stormed the Capitol weren’t peaceable protesters. Pardoning them can be an outrageous mistake, one that would imply about 800 convicted criminals will probably be again on the road.
It may additionally put me in peril, as I’ve continued to testify in courtroom and I’ve given sufferer statements in circumstances towards dozens of the rioters who assaulted me and my fellow officers.
I used to be one of many lucky ones that day; nine people wound up dead because of the rampage. Two protesters had deadly medical episodes, one rioter overdosed through the uproar and one other was fatally shot by a policeman whereas forcing her manner into the Home Chamber. One in every of my colleagues, 42-year-old Officer Brian Sicknick, suffered two strokes after the trauma of preventing off a number of protesters who sprayed him with a chemical irritant. He didn’t survive. 4 D.C. policemen harmed within the riots later died by suicide.
My buddy Harry Dunn, the primary regulation enforcement member to prominently condemn the brazen rebellion, testified about our primitive hand-to-hand preventing towards improvised weaponry like flagpoles, steel bike racks and projectiles, with officers bleeding, blinded and coughing from bear spray. Known as racial slurs, Harry has since retired his blue uniform. My co-worker Michael Fanone was crushed, burned and electrically shocked. He suffered a coronary heart assault, concussion and traumatic mind harm that brought about him to additionally go away his place on the Metropolitan Police. Whereas bodily recovering, he’s been the goal of fixed harassment from Trump supporters and has struggled to search out regular work. Steven Sund, who was the Capitol Police chief, has been scapegoated and resigned below stress.
I required a number of surgical procedures, years of rehab and remedy for recurrences of the post-traumatic stress dysfunction I used to be recognized with within the Military. I used to be vilified and known as “a traitor,” as Mr. Trump and a few of his fellow Republicans known as the riot a “day of affection” and a “peaceable protest” by “warriors,” “patriots,” “political prisoners” and “mistreated hostages.”
Though I left the Capitol Police drive, I stay haunted by that day. Now Mr. Trump’s promised actions may erase the justice we’ve risked every part for.
I by no means needed to be a whistle-blower or a troublemaker. I grew up poor within the Dominican Republic, got here to this nation legally at age 12 and have become the primary in my household to complete highschool and faculty. I lived in Brooklyn, just some miles from the place Mr. Trump grew up in Queens, but the metaphoric distance between us was huge. My dad was a taxi driver who may give me solely $100 to assist pay for school. Mr. Trump’s father was an actual property developer who bequeathed him at least $413 million over the years. Whereas Mr. Trump escaped the Vietnam draft with a medical exemption for bone spurs and by no means served within the navy, I completed my diploma with the assistance of the G.I. Invoice after I enlisted and served within the Center East. What I skilled defending the Capitol towards rioters was worse than the fight I noticed in Iraq.
What helped me was bearing witness. Within the 4 years for the reason that riot, about 1,561 defendants have been federally charged with Jan. 6 crimes, a lot of them serious felonies starting from unlawfully coming into restricted grounds with weapons to seditious conspiracy. Roughly 590 defendants have been charged with assault on a federal officer and 169 have been charged with crimes involving critical bodily hurt to a police officer, together with assault utilizing a lethal or harmful weapon; the weapons included swords, axes, knives, Taser-like gadgets, baseball bats, hockey sticks and strengthened knuckle gloves. Greater than 300 pleaded responsible to felonies and greater than 200 had been discovered responsible at trial.
Releasing those that assaulted us from blame can be a desecration of justice. If Mr. Trump desires to heal our divided nation, he’ll let their convictions stand.
Though I don’t blame all Trump supporters — a few of my very own family help him — I do detest what MAGA extremism did to me and my staff on Jan. 6. I resent the continuing whitewashing of the barbarity and the collective amnesia of right-wing politicians who aren’t prepared to carry Mr. Trump accountable. I can’t bear to listen to Republicans describe themselves because the “regulation and order” social gathering.
Mr. Trump is returning to the presidency at 78, whereas I needed to go away the profession I’d labored for my entire life for at 42 because of accidents suffered whereas doing my job. I typically surprise why I risked my life to defend our elected officers from a mob impressed by Mr. Trump, solely to see him return to energy stronger than ever. It’s arduous to witness a wealthy white man get rewarded for treachery whereas I’m punished for fulfilling my obligation. Perhaps that’s why so many individuals don’t do the precise factor — as a result of it’s arduous and it hurts.
When Mr. Trump lately proclaimed that members of the Home Jan. 6 committee ought to go to jail, Consultant Jamie Raskin responded, “In America, we jail folks just for having dedicated felony offenses that they’re discovered responsible of by a unanimous jury of their friends. We don’t jail folks for doing their jobs and residing as much as their constitutional oaths of workplace.”
It gave me hope when Mr. Raskin additional reminded everybody that Mr. Trump was impeached for his position in inspiring a violent rebel towards the Structure. I like Republicans like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who put equity earlier than social gathering, regardless of being censured and threatened for his or her work on the committee.
At the least I get to listen to my son name me his hero, as we keep in mind the individuals who put every part on the road to guard our democracy and proceed to inform the reality about Jan. 6.
