Letter from Jan. 6 Witness on Capitol Police Abuse: The Police Pushed Men and Women Down the Stairs Backwards, “I Knew I Would Be Trampled”

 

Not making headlines–
A new video posted at Disclose TV this weekend revealed Capitol Police firing on Jan. 6 Trump supporters before ANY violence started.

The police are then seen drenching Trump supporters with pepper-spray.

This was all before the Trump supporters started attacking the police.

This was also at the time that a third Trump supporter was killed. It is likely the man died after the vicious assault by the police on January 6.

Now this…
Following our post on Saturday, reader Linda sent us a copy of her very descriptive letter to the “Office of Police Complaints” in Washington DC following their assault on Trump supporters on Jan. 6.

January 14, 2021

District of Columbia
Office of Police Complaints,

I am writing to submit a complaint about physical abuse I was subjected to at the hands of police in the District of Columbia on January 6th, 2021 at approximately 1:50 to 2:30 PM.

I do not know if it was done by Capital Police or Metropolitan Police or another law enforcement entity.

I was standing on the top step of the first flight of stairs to the Capital Building on the side of the building that has a large grass lawn in front of it. I had walked to the Capital from the ellipse with hundreds of thousands of President Trump supporters. We did not encounter any police or police barriers until we reached the Capital steps. At the top of the first flight of stairs police were there all the way across standing behind metal sections of barriers.

We asked if we could walk past the first flight up to the top of the stairs and were told no. At no time that I was there did anyone standing in front of the barriers where I was try and knock them down. Within a few minutes police were shooting off gas canisters, and loud concussion (?) booms, at rally participants. Then pepper spray. It seemed excessive as people were not rioting, they were just standing on the grass or stairs.

After about 12? minutes of standing there a cop asked us to take a step back, I asked why and said that I would rather stay where I was. He said “I don’t want you to get hurt when we shove you.” I replied “Why would you push us backwards down the stairs, someone could really get hurt.” Also by this time thousands of people were pressed up against us so stepping back would have taken time to figure out. The man next to me was saying that to the officer.

Within a few seconds the cops shoved the barriers at us with a great deal of strength.

Most people standing on that top step went flying backwards. 30-50 people? As I was falling I tried to turn my body around so I was falling forward. People behind me were falling as I was falling against them. I could see the reaction of the people standing at the bottom of the stairs to the police shoving us down the stairs.

They were shocked, outraged and instinctively started to move forward. Thousands of people pushing forward while people were falling backwards caused a serious potential for people getting trampled. When I came to the bottom of the stairs I was only sort of upright because of all the people I had fallen on to. But I knew if I did not get out of there quick I would be trampled. I managed to push my way out and to the side, kind of like getting out of a rip tide, once I was safe I realized that I only had one shoe. It took two and a half hours before my husband could get to us to pick us up and it was around 40 degrees outside. My left ankle and knee were sore, my left shoe was gone. I figured as I was turning to try and face front someone stepped on my foot and my shoe stayed behind.

Here is what concerns me. Over the last eight months BLM and Antifa have rioted in several major cities, D.C. included. Most police departments were banned from using crowd control measures like tear gas, pepper spray, water cannons on them because they were considered too harmful to the rioters. I do not agree with that thinking but many departments were not allowed to use them. So I know potential harm is considered when deciding which crowd control methods to use.

It seems to me that shoving people backwards down a flight of stairs has a lot more potential for severe bodily harm, even death, than does tear gas or pepper spray. Particularly when there is potential for creating a stampede where someone could get trampled. I hear one woman was trampled to death and I wonder if she was standing in the same area I was? Was this tactic an approved crowd control method?