A Captain in the U.S. Capitol police force that responded to the January 6 riot on Capitol presented a disturbing first-hand report on Tuesday about her experience in the fight against white supremacists and other Trump elements.
Rioters nearly broke her arm amid the chaos, Captain Carneysha Mendoza told senators during the first official hearing on the security breach on January 6. She and her fellow officers were gassed. Many were struck with blunt objects and struck with the ground.
“I got chemical burns on my face that have not healed to this day,” Mendoza said.
The USCP captain, a veteran of the U.S. Army, repeatedly called the January 6 riot a “fight.”
“We could have had ten times as many people working with us, and I still believe the fight would have been just as devastating,” she said, a testament to how overwhelmed officers were because it took hours for the National Guard and supplementary. police forces to show up.
The Senate on Tuesday would hear testimony from four security officers on Capitol Hill who oversaw the response to the January 6 riot, while lawmakers are seeking answers about what went wrong before and during the attack.
The four panel members who testified before the Senate Rules and Committees on Homeland Security were the acting chief of the Metropolitan Police, Robert Contee, the former weapons sergeant Paul Irving, the former senate sergeant Michael Stenger, and the former U.S. police chief of the Capitol, Steven Sund.
Tuesday’s trial is the first in a series of expected surveillance efforts in Washington to identify failures at the scene that led to the January 6 security breach at the Capitol.
“This is definitely not the last trial we will have on this attack. “Next week we will hear from witnesses from federal agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense,” said Senate President Amy Klobuchar.
But before the four panelists made their opening statements, Ms Klobuchar invited Mendoza to tell her story, which showed how violent the mob’s attack was.
On January 6, around 1:30 p.m., the captain at home was having lunch with her ten-year-old son when she received a call from a colleague to get her in early. She was planning to start a 16-hour shift at 3 p.m.
“I literally dropped everything to respond to work early,” she said.
On her 15-minute walk to work, the expedition official informed her that there were six active scenes, including several confrontations outside the Capitol and explosive devices found outside the buildings of the Democratic and Republican National Committees.
Me. Mendoza decided she would help at the DNC bomb scene as it was closest to her current location, but when she heard officers on the radio asking for ‘immediate’ help at the Capitol, she passed the DNC to the legislature rushed.
By the time she passed the crowd on East Square and entered the building with the help of another officer, dozens of rioters had already broken the Rotunda on the first floor, including the iconic Capitol dome.
She jumped in line with other officers to prevent other rioters from entering the building deeper through the corridors.
“At one point, my right arm got stuck between rioters and the railing next to the wall,” she testified Tuesday.
A sergeant pulls her arm loose from the crushing weight.
“If he had not done so, I’m sure it would have been broken,” she said. Mendoza said.
The rioters eventually overran Mendoza’s line and dispersed officers to other parts of the building to hold further burglaries.
“She went to the Rotunda, where she noticed a ‘heavy smoky residue’ and smelled what she said was a military tear gas, a familiar smell,” she said.
The tear gas mixed with mist from the foamy white fire extinguisher rioters unfolded, creating a damaging mist that exposed several dozen people in the Rotunda to suffocating and burning feelings. When Mendoza felt the chemical burns scorching her face.
The Rotunda was a complete battle between rioters and police officers.
“I saw officers being beaten on the ground and beaten with various objects thrown by rioters,” she said, though she never determined what the objects were.
As captain, me. Mendoza took over the commander of the officers at the scene and asked for backing.
After a few hours, officers managed to clear the Rotunda of the mob.
But with rabid rioters still knocking on the door from the outside and pushing in, officers had to work against it for a few minutes longer.
‘Officers begged me for relief because they were not sure how long they could physically keep the door open, while the crowd constantly wanted to knock on the outside of the door and gain access again. “Finally, officers were able to secure the door with furniture and other objects,” she said. Mendoza said.
Although lawmakers and the media widely reported that the attack lasted about three hours, Ms. Mendoza noted at the time that her Fitbit showed that she was in the “training zone” for four hours and nine minutes.
‘As an American and as a veteran of the military, it’s sad to see us being attacked by our fellow citizens. I am sad to see the unnecessary loss of life. I’m sad to see what impact this has had on Capitol police officers. And I am sad to see what impact this has had on our agency and on our country, ”she said. Mendoza said.
More than 250 people have so far been charged for their role in the Capitol riot. Donald Trump has been charged with inciting the bloody uprising in which five people were killed. The Senate convicted him 57-43, with seven Republicans voting along with all 50 Democrats and independent Democratic citizens. The result drew ten votes from the two-thirds threshold for conviction, which would have disqualified Trump from holding the future office.