A Police Officer Testified About The Moment The Mob Broke Through The Line At The Capitol On Jan. 6

WASHINGTON — A DC police officer took the stand Wednesday to explain his finally unsuccessful efforts to carry again the mob on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, speaking the jury by way of movies that confirmed him getting knocked over and struggling on the bottom as a person tried to tear off his helmet and fuel masks, choking him within the course of, he stated.

Officer Noah Rathbun, a member of the Metropolitan Police Division since 2015, confirmed no emotion as he repeatedly watched movies depicting totally different angles of his bodily altercation on the Capitol grounds with Thomas Webster, a New York man charged with assaulting him. Rathbun often seemed away from the display screen and shifted in his seat, adjusting the bulletproof vest he wore as a part of his uniform.

Rathbun denied claims by Webster’s lawyer, James Monroe, that he made a hand gesture inviting Webster to battle him after which punched Webster within the face, unprovoked aside from verbal abuse. Rathbun stated his hand gestures, as captured on video, had been meant to wave Webster again and create distance.

The officer agreed he made contact with Webster’s face at one level, however maintained it was open-handed and incidental to attempting to push Webster again after Webster twice tried to shove the metallic bike rack that Rathbun and different officers had been attempting to maintain in place to cease the group of hundreds from advancing nearer to the Capitol. Rathbun’s exchanges with Monroe had been calm, at the same time as Monroe advised he’d withheld details about his contact with Webster from investigators, an accusation Rathbun denied.

Webster’s protection towards the six-count indictment hinges on what occurred throughout his roughly minutelong encounter with Rathbun. Webster isn’t denying that movies and pictures present him yelling obscenities at Rathbun and different officers, pushing towards the bike racks, swinging a metallic flagpole with a US Marine Corps flag hooked up on the officers, charging at Rathbun and knocking him down, and attempting to take away the officer’s helmet and fuel masks. However Webster maintains that Rathbun instigated the confrontation and that he acted in self-defense; his lawyer all through two days of trial has constantly referred to the face contact as a “punch.”

Rathbun walked the jury by way of his day on Jan. 6. He stated he’d been stationed on the White Home as a part of a bicycle response unit on stand-by for an anticipated political demonstration; supporters of former president Donald Trump gathered for a rally that morning close to the Ellipse. At round 1 p.m., Rathbun stated a radio name went out for help on the Capitol, and a riot was declared.

When Rathbun arrived on the west aspect of the Capitol advanced, he stated the scene was “very chaotic” — there have been loud bangs and chemical irritants within the air — and the group was “hostile,” cursing at him and different officers. The native law enforcement officials made their solution to the entrance of the constructing to affix outnumbered US Capitol Cops. Rathbun stated they had been being “pelted” by objects. He stated he’d by no means confronted a crowd that hostile earlier than in his time on the drive. He recalled feeling “overwhelmed” and stated it shortly turned “scary.”

Rathbun paused and checked out a display screen in entrance of him on the witness stand, which displayed a chicken’s eye {photograph} of the group of hundreds in entrance of the only line of law enforcement officials that he’d been a part of after Assistant US Legal professional Brian Kelly requested why the scenario had turn into scary. The officer defined how simply the group might have overcome the officers because the “temperature” of the scenario was shortly rising.

“We didn’t have any choices,” he stated.

Narrating a video recorded by his physique digicam, he stated that when Webster got here to the bike rack line and began yelling at him to “take your shit off,” he understood that to imply Webster wished to battle him. He stated he tried to make use of his palms to create distance and push Webster away, and denied utilizing a closed fist or punching him. He stated he was attempting to bodily push Webster again after the person had twice tried to push the bike racks, since there was nothing else to cease the group from going ahead.

Webster swung the flagpole in direction of the officers and hit the rack, inflicting the metallic pole to separate. Rathbun stated he grabbed the pole from Webster after which retreated. He stated Webster charged at him and knocked him to the bottom, and tried to tug off his helmet and his fuel masks. Rathbun stated his helmet chin strap was caught on his neck and the underside of his fuel masks pressed into his throat, choking him. When the fuel masks separated from his face, it let in irritants within the air, and when the masks snapped again on, it trapped these irritants inside, making it laborious to breathe.

Kelly requested what was going by way of his thoughts at that time. Rathbun gave a wry chuckle — one of many few occasions he smiled throughout his testimony — and replied, “not good issues.”

Rathbun was hospitalized later within the day, however not due to his confrontation with Webster. He lower his hand attempting to clear the group out of the Capitol Rotunda and needed to get stitches, and filed an damage report associated to that. Kelly and Monroe questioned him about why he didn’t file a report about bruising on his legs that he stated he’d sustained from the contact with Webster. Rathbun stated it didn’t look like a reportable damage, and that being pushed to the bottom didn’t really feel like a significant incident given the opposite accidents officers suffered and the truth that a number of died. He stated he hadn’t reported bruises and minor cuts that he acquired on the job that hadn’t required medical therapy prior to now.

Monroe introduced up the Metropolitan Police Division’s insurance policies about use of drive by officers, and had Rathbun clarify that officers had been alleged to “defuse” and de-escalate conditions as a lot as potential earlier than utilizing drive. Rathbun agreed officers weren’t allowed to make use of drive solely in response to verbal abuse from a civilian, and that punching somebody within the face as a response to verbal abuse would violate the coverage. However he disputed that’s what occurred on the Capitol.

Kelly requested Rathbun what he thought concerning the occasions of Jan. 6, wanting again greater than a 12 months later.

“I believe it’s unhappy. , this complete incident is tragic however I strive not to consider it,” he stated. “I simply suppose it’s unlucky to be within the nation’s capital and be handled like that by one other citizen.”