Man accused of attacking a policeman in the Capitol revolt, buried the police insignia in the backyard

A New York man arrested Friday for assaulting a DC metropolitan police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol confessed to the FBI that he buried his officer’s insignia in his garden after returning at home.

Thomas Sibick was arrested Friday in Buffalo, New York, according to court records. Sibick faces five charges, including law enforcement obstruction during civil unrest, assault or impediment of officers, and taking valuables by force or intimidation.

Sibick was caught in a video assaulting MPD agent Mike Fanone, who was assaulted for chores and assaulted for riots, who dragged him into the crowd as they tried to enter the Capitol. HuffPost previously reported the identity of a man with a MAGA hat seen with a taser on Fanone during the attack.

MPD previously told HuffPost that there had been no arrests in the attack on Fanone, and it appears that Sibick’s arrest is the first.

Images from Fanone’s body camera show his police radio and the badge that Sibick ripped from his vest, according to the affidavit. After the riot, Sibick posted pictures of himself with a U.S. Capitol police shield and trying to enter the building with the mob.

FBI agents first met with Sibick on Jan. 27 and admitted to being in DC on the day of the Capitol uprising. He told officers he felt someone was saying “get it [Fanone’s] shoot him and kill him, “but said he was trying to help the officer. In early February, Sibick again denied involvement in the assault. But in late February, he said he had to” retracted “from his previous statement and admitted to grabbing the agent’s badge and radio. He said he dropped them in a trash can in DC, but later called an agent and claimed that.” I wanted to do the right thing “.

Sibick, according to the FBI affidavit, said he “buried the badge in the back garden,” bought a metal detector to find it, dug it up and wanted to return it.

“Later that night, SIBICK met the agent and gave him a bag containing mud and the MF agent’s badge,” the affidavit said.