Thread by @evanchill

One of the most violent confrontations during the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol occurred during an attempt by the mob to breach a west-side door. We identified three times that rioters dragged officers into the mob and beat them: nytimes.com/2021/01/11/us/…

Shortly after 2 p.m., the mob breaches the last, lightly-defended Capitol Police lines on the west side. They fight past officers on the ground and surge toward this door (from which presidents emerge during their inauguration) starting an hours-long battle.

Defending the door, which leads under the Capitol’s Rotunda, is a group of Metropolitan Police officers. Not long after the attack begins, the mob drags one of the officers out. Video captures him being pulled violently down the steps.

This photograph by Shannon Stapleton for Reuters shows the same Metropolitan Police officer trapped in the mob:

Rioters continue their assault on the police line, literally climbing over each other to attack police. One uses a flagpole and a stolen Capitol Police shield. Another swings from the top of the door, trying to kick the officers down.

A new group of rioters then seizes a brief lull in the fighting to rush the doorway and brutally attack the police line with poles, a crutch and a hockey stick.

Two of the attackers pull another officer out by his helmet and drag him down the stairs face down.

A man beats the fallen officer with an American flag as the crowd chants “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

Back at the top of the steps, two other men start yanking another fallen officer by his legs. They also pull him down the steps, where a rioter can be seen punching him.

One of the two officers manages to stand up and is punched by a rioter in the helmet. In this clip, other rioters try to protect him and lead him away, but he appears to stumble in the mob.

It’s unclear what happened to the three officers after they were dragged into the mob, but none of them appears to have been Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after being struck in the head by a rioter wielding a fire extinguisher.

As many as three of the men filmed dragging and assaulting officers in these videos appear to match images released by MPD of men who could face federal charges for assaulting police officers. mpdc.dc.gov/sites/default/…

By reviewing these videos, we are also able to match some of the individuals filmed participating in the assault on the officers at the inauguration door with @DCPoliceDept's "persons of interest" list.

Here is one man who's identifiable by his sunglasses and black tactical vest. The vest has two patches: one reads "SHERIFF," the other is the emblem of the far-right anti-government armed movement the Three Percenters.

The image from MPD's "persons of interest" list could be from the bodycam of the officer, just visible in his neon jacket, pinned beneath the man in this screengrab.

Here's a second individual identified by MPD as a person of interest in the assault of a police officer. He is clearly involved in pulling a Metropolitan Police officer down the steps at the west-side door incident in this screengrab.

Here's a third individual identified by MPD as possibly being involved in assaulting a police officer. He can be seen clearly on video at the west-side incident first battling officers with a baton, then putting on a riot helmet taken from a fallen officer.

And here's all three of these individuals in action at the same time during the assault on the door

This "person of interest" is the man shown clearly in this screengrab, dressed in woodland camouflage, who beats a fallen officer at the inauguration door with an American flag.

Shoutout to the team that made this piece possible: @arielle_designs, Dahlia Kozlowsky, @whitney_hurst, @jenvalentino, @bottidavid and @markscheffler. Stay tuned in the coming days for much more from Visual Investigations on the Capitol siege.