Members of the Proud Boys and dozens of people who were convicted or accused of a range of crimes in connection with the January 6 riot are now suing the federal government, alleging law enforcement officers used excessive force while fighting back against rioters who stormed the Capitol.
A class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of at least 46 people or as many as “hundreds or potentially thousands” of people who joined the mob accuses police of “indiscriminately” firing tear gas and other chemical agents and swatting them with “Billy clubs.”
The lawsuit, which is seeking at least $18 million in damages, follows Donald Trump’s mass pardons for virtually every defendant charged in connection with the assault in the halls of Congress, fueled by the president’s ongoing baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and “stolen” from him.
More than 1,000 defendants pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the attack, and more than 200 others were found guilty at trial, including 10 defendants who were found guilty of treason-related charges. Dozens of officers were injured, and at least five died in the days and weeks after the attack.
The lawsuit, which was filed in a federal court in Florida, claims the crowd was “overwhelmingly peaceful before the shooting by police started.”
“No one intentionally harmed any officers,” according to the lawsuit. “The munitions launched into the crowd were not directed at any of the people who were pushing on the fence line. Instead, the police were shooting indiscriminately into the crowd further back in an area with peaceful protesters.”
Among the 46 named plaintiffs are several former defendants who were granted clemency under Trump’s sweeping pardons, including rioters who were charged and convicted of attacking law enforcement.
Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys who was filmed using a stolen riot shield to break a window into the Capitol, was convicted of assaulting an officer, among other crimes, after a five-month jury trial.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison before Trump’s pardon.
Another member of the far-right gang, Christopher Worrell, was convicted of shooting pepper spray at officers, among other charges. In remarks to a judge before he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, he said his conduct on January 6 was “inexcusable and unjustified” and said he was “truly sorry” to police and members of Congress.
“I made some choices I sincerely regret,” he said during a sentencing hearing more than two years ago.
Today, the pair are among dozens of plaintiffs accusing police of illegally attacking them.
Anthime Gionet, a far-right personality known as Baked Alaska, pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol unlawfully after he filmed himself on a 27-minute livestream from inside.
Gionet – who filmed a music video for his song “We Love Our Cops” — also berated a law enforcement officer during the riot, saying “you’re a f****** oathbreaker, you piece of s***”, “f*** you” and “you broke your oath to the constitution,” according to federal prosecutors.
“This was a fraudulent election. We’re standing up for truth, God’s truth,” he says in the video, according to court filings.
The plaintiffs say the police response caused them “bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, severe emotional distress and psychological trauma, mental anguish, inconvenience, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization, medical and nursing care and treatment, loss of earnings, loss of ability to earn money, and aggravation of a previously existing condition.”
The Independent has requested comment from lawyers for plaintiffs and the Department of Justice as well as U.S. Capitol Police and Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
It’s unclear whether the Justice Department will now defend the government and law enforcement’s response to January 6 after the Trump administration’s government-wide whitewashing of the riots.
The Justice Department has already reached a settlement with the family of at least one rioter who was fatally shot by a Capitol police officer after trying to break into the House of Representatives.
Trump has also pledged he would “look at” at the government’s decision to drop a case against the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt.
At least one rioter — a man who called on the mob to “kill” police — is now working in the administration.
The administration has also targeted federal prosecutors involved with January 6 cases and moved to identify FBI agents involved in investigations while scrubbing evidence and public statements about the attack from government websites.
A newly launched White House website blames law enforcement officers for “deliberately escalating tensions” while hundreds of Trump’s supporters swarmed the area.
