| USA TODAY
A timeline of what happened when pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol
The timeline breaks the riot that took place at the American Capitol when a Pro-Trump mob stormed the building and let members of Congress walk.
States of America, USA TODAY
The claim: Police assisted a Capitol president protester and kicked a BLM bystander in the head
Since the Capitol attack on January 6, many Americans have been emphasizing anti-racism protests in 2020 to ask if there is a double standard in the way police have responded to different protesters. One such share is in the police treatment of a Capitol criminal and anti-racism activist Martin Gugino to offer a comparison.
“When police hold the hands of an elderly Trump terrorist, help her escort the stairs of the Capitol once and remember the footage of the bystander of the old man who kicked the police on BLM protest’s head , “reads the meme The Other 98% shared and later removed.
The meme contains side-by-side images of police escorting a woman up the Capitol stairs during the January 6 riot and Gugino was injured lying on the sidewalk after police arrested him during an anti-racist protest in June pushed. The meme attributed the statement to Twitter user Carly Kimmel.
More: Fact check: Image of ‘Simpsons’ character doctored to mimic Capitol rioters
The other 98% have since removed the meme and CEO and co-founder John Sellers responded in an email to the US TODAY.
“Of course you are correct that the police did not literally kick his head in (which is a speech). If they had kicked his head in, he would be dead by now,” Sellers wrote. “What the police have actually done is push him down, break his skull and then offer him no help as they pull up through him in final step.”
The meme is still spreading on other social media accounts.
Kimmel tweeted the message on January 6th. Her tweet went viral, receiving nearly 50,000 retweets, more than 900 quotes and more than 200,000 likes.
Kimmel did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY.
More: Fact check: Video shows Trump family in tent before January 6
Police escort Trump supporter down Capitol stairs
Media coverage of the January 6 Capitol riot captured the moment a police officer assisted a woman in the Capitol stairs. The woman was wearing a brown coat and Trump hat. The officer, dressed in riots, has a shield in one hand and the woman’s hand in the other. It is unclear why the officer accompanied her.
NBC-affiliated television station WXIA-TV, Atlanta, posted a video of the incident on YouTube in a different way.
Social media users, including comedian Leslie Jones, has since posted videos from a TV of what appears to be CNN coverage of the incident.
The identity of the officer and woman involved is unknown.
USA TODAY could not find any evidence that the police then helped other protesters down the stairs.
More: Fact check: False allegation of forgiveness for those involved in the riot in Capitol
Police elderly protesters pushed against racism
A 75-year-old resident of Amherst, New York, became an unexpected focal point of the 2020 protest movement against police brutality in early June. Martin Gugino attended a rally against racism in Buffalo on June 4 when he was pushed to the ground by a Buffalo police officer. Bystanders’ videos of the incident went viral shortly thereafter.
Graph: 75-year-old man gets head injury after being bumped by police
A 75-year-old man has sustained a head injury and is in a stable but serious condition after being bumped by police during a rally in Buffalo, New York.
USA TODAY, Storyful
Video showed Gugino approaching a series of police officers in riot gear, being pushed backwards, falling to the ground and then lying on the sidewalk while blood was being pumped under his head. Police were heard saying, “He’s bleeding from his ear” in the video.
Bystanders told USA TODAY Network Paper Democrat and Chronicle that police subsequently called for medical help, which arrived within minutes.
Gugino spent a month in hospital recovering from a brain injury and skull fracture.
The two officers responsible, Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski, were temporarily suspended without pay and eventually charged with assault.
The video of the incident shows that the police never kicked Gugino in the head.
More: Fact check: Video shows Trump family in tent before January 6
Our verdict: Partly untrue
We judge the allegation that the police both led the trespass of Trump supporters down the Capitol stairs and ‘kicked in’ the head of an elderly BLM protester as PORTION FALSE because many, but not all, the claim by support our research. It is true that media coverage shows that a police officer did help one pro-Trump protester on the steps of the Capitol on January 6th. And officers in Buffalo, New York, are charged with assault after punching an elderly protester against racism. caused a head injury, during an event on June 4. But it is false to describe what happened to Martin Gugino during a Black Lives Matter protest as ‘kicking his police head’.
Our sources for fact-finding:
- USA TODAY, January 6, “‘Double standard’: Bids, black lawmakers and activists reject police response to attack on US Capitol”
- The other 98%, January 9, remove Facebook Post
- The other 98% accessed Facebook on January 12 via ‘About’
- yveliscious, January 11, Instagram Post
- Carly Kimmel, January 6, Tweet
- YouTube, 11Alive, January 6, “Pro-Trump rioters escort police escalator down stairs”
- Alafair Burke, January 6, Tweet
- Sjoerd Levelt, 6 January, Tweet
- Leslie Jones, January 7 Tweet
- Democrat and Chronicle, June 5, ’75-year-old man pushed to the ground by Buffalo police ‘comes from a’ peace tradition ”
- USA TODAY, August 31, “75-year-old Buffalo man pushed by police speaks out after incident after month in hospital”
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