WASHINGTON – Dressed in uniform, four police officers testified this Tuesday in the first session of the committee of the United States House of Representatives investigating the assault on the Capitol of the past 6 January by a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump (2017 – 2021).
Your statements will allow the committee to reconstruct what happened and clarify why the assault occurred , who is responsible and what can be done to prevent another similar event.
These are their names and their stories:
Aquilino Gonell, an immigrant defending the US
Sergeant Aquilino Gonell of the Capitol Police began his testimony by recalling his roots: he came to the US from the Dominican Republic in 1992 and pledged allegiance to the American flag on several occasions, including when he acquired citizenship and when he went to fight r in the Iraq war.
With 25 years, he went to fight that war wearing the American uniform, but never was he so scared as during the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
That day, Gonell was hit with the pole of an American flag and, as a result, he has been injured in both hands, his left shoulder, his left calf and the right foot. Also, Trump supporters doused him with so many chemical sprays that his skin burned for hours.
He came home at 4 in the morning and had to ask his wife who did not hug him because of the amount of chemicals he still had in his uniform.
In spite of everything, the next day at 8 in the morning he returned to the Capitol to work.
“As an immigrant who has come to the United States, – he said – I am especially proud to have defended the Constitution and democracy on January 6. I hope that all people in a position of authority in our country have the courage and conviction to do their part, to investigate what happened on that horrible day and why. This research is essential for our democracy. ”
Michael Fanone, threatened with his own gun
Fanone is not part of the Capitol Police and was not among the agents assigned on January 6 to protect Congress, but ended up being one of the most affected.
The agent, of 40 years, worked for the Washington Metropolitan Police and was in another part of the capital when he received an emergency alert and rushed to the Capitol with a colleague.
The video recorded with his body camera that day shows how the mob beat him with a flagpole and shocked him repeatedly with their own stun gun (“taser”), before snatching his badge and gun.
“I heard some in the crowd shouting ‘take away his gun and kill him with his own gun’”, recalled this Tuesday Fanone.
The policeman begged them not to murder him. “I told them as loudly as I could: I have daughters,” he explained, when he said that he couldn’t stop thinking about his four girls and that he was fortunate that some in the crowd helped him out of the mob.
Once at the hospital, the doctors told him that he had “suffered a heart attack ”, And later diagnosed with a“ concussion, head injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder. ”
Harry Dunn, target of racist attacks
Dunn, the only African-American witness of the four who appeared on Tuesday, He had been working 13 years as a Capitol police officer when it was his turn to answer not only to the assault on the legislative headquarters but to the “racist epithets” that the mob directed against him.
” No one, ever, ever, had called me a ‘nigger’ (racist expression directed at African Americans) while wearing the Capitol police uniform, ” denounced during the hearing.
The policeman, from 37 years, he was the target of that “torrent” of insults when he confessed to the crowd that he had voted for the current president, Joe Biden, after these told him that they were there to prevent his electoral victory from being certified and commented that “no one” could have supported him.
“More than six months later, January 6 is not over for me yet,” said Dunn, who assured that he continues to receive therapy for what happened.
Daniel Hodges and the cries for help
Finally, agent Daniel Hodges voiced the helplessness that the agents felt in the face of the constant attacks from Trump supporters, whom he referred to at all times as “terrorists.”
The experience of Hodges, of the Police loc The one in Washington, became one of the best known scenes because, after the attack, heartbreaking images were made public in which he is seen crushed between a door frame and the mob of Trump supporters .
In the video, which was shown during the hearing, He is seen writhing in pain and screaming.
He recalled that, in addition, at that moment one of Trump’s followers took advantage of the fact that he was in a situation of “vulnerability” to grab a mask of gas and hit him on the head.
He even “put the phone in his mouth to have both hands free to attack me,” recalled Hodges, visibly affected during his appearance, in which stopped several times to drink water.
Hodges was finally able to escape, but still has injuries, like the rest of the agents.
You can see the full audience in English here.