Authorities on Friday arrested a man accused of assaulting DC Metropolitan Police Officer Mike Fanone, who was allegedly beaten and killed in a crowd of riots during the assault on the U.S. Capitol. Cargo documents indicate that Thomas Sibick ripped off Fanone’s badge and radio during the assault on the western front stairs and later buried the badge in the back garden.
Prosecutors allege that Sibick, of Buffalo, New York, assaulted Fanone when he ripped off the badge and radio. The assault allegedly took place while Fanone was being beaten and beaten by a group of rioters who had pulled him off the police line.
As a result of the violence, Agent Fanone lost consciousness and was later hospitalized for his injuries, which likely included a concussion and taser injuries, according to court documents. Sibick is not accused of hitting or stabbing Fanone.
Sibick is accused of assaulting or obstructing law enforcement, obstructing law enforcement and taking from the person anything of value by force, among other charges. A federal judge in the western district of New York granted him release from prison for the government’s objection this afternoon. The Justice Department has appealed this decision to the DC federal court, where the case will continue.
Fanone said he was located at a west entrance of the Capitol along with a few dozen other officers, facing a crowd of riots trying to storm the building, when someone grabbed him from the police line and dragged him to the crowd. ground.
“He was brutal, he was beaten, he hit with several different objects,” Fanone said during a January interview with CBS News. He said he received assignments “probably about half a dozen times.”
Prosecutors say Sibick initially denied being part of the mob that attacked the agent during an interview with FBI agents.
But when federal investigators confronted him with still images from Fanone’s body camera video, Sibick allegedly admitted he was part of the crowd, but claimed he had only grabbed the officer’s badge and radio to try to pull away. -the crowd. Sibick allegedly told officers that after taking possession of the items, he placed the radio and badge in a trash can on Constitution Avenue and did not return them to law enforcement because he was afraid of being arrested. .
Prosecutors said Sibick withdrew that statement from FBI agents, claiming he removed the objects from a hotel container on his return to Buffalo. After an agent emailed Sibick to tell him that authorities would review the hotel’s security footage to confirm his claim, Sibick allegedly called officers saying he was “baffled” and “wanted to do the same.” correct “and admitted that he had buried the insignia agent in the back garden. He allegedly handed her to the muddy FBI, in a ziplock.
FBI
Fanone described his experience with the mob on CBS News in January, Fanone said people started singing, “Kill him with his own gun” and that some of the crowd started grabbing his gun.
In an interview with CBS affiliate WUSA9 in January, Fanone said he considered killing people, but thought that if he did, “they would take the gun and kill me.”
He added that he believed his best chance of survival was “trying to attract someone’s humanity” and said he called the crowd he had children. He explained that some of the protesters finally helped him, surrounding him to help him leave the crowd.
Fanone told WUSA9 that he spent a day and a half in the hospital after the attack, and said he had a message in the group that helped him escape the crowd: “Thank you, but t ** k for to have been there “.
He also described the assault as a “coordinated effort” and said, “I mean, they almost counted the cadence while they were pressing against us,” referring to the military practice of singing in a pattern of calls and responses.
Before being caught in the crowd and beaten, Fanone said he saw Officer Daniel Hodges bleed and was crushed between a door and the crowd as they shouted, “Hove it.”
Hodges told CBS News in January that a riot police ripped off his gas mask, hit his head against the door and grabbed his club and hit him with his head.
“I definitely thought that could be it,” Hodges said. “He may not be able to get out of it.”
Authorities arrested Patrick Edward McCaughey III in January, alleging that he used a police riot shield to secure Hodges to the door while Hodges screamed in pain. McCaughey was charged with crimes such as assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon and civil disorder.
No one has yet been charged with the death of Officer Brian Sicknick, but a U.S. official told CBS News last month that the FBI was focusing on a man as a possible suspect.
Nearly 140 U.S. Capitol Police and DC Metropolitan Police officers were injured during the riot, Capitol Police Labor Union President Gus Papathanasiou said in a January statement provided to CBS8.
“I have officers who were not issued helmets before the attack and have suffered brain injuries,” Papathanasiou said in the statement. “One officer has two cracked ribs and two broken spinal discs. One officer will lose his eye and another was stabbed with a metal stake.”