A person charged in connection with the uprising at the Capitol is accused of assaulting a Washington police officer and taking his badge to his home in New York, where he allegedly buried it in his backyard.
Thomas Sibick is accused of grabbing Officer Michael Fanone’s badge and radio when the officer was pulled into a mob of rioters, where they beat and grope him, leaving him unconscious and hospitalized.
According to the FBI affidavit, “SIBICK stated that he tried to reach the officer to pull him away, but he could not reach him and at the time feared for his life and that of the officer. “
Sibick claims that when he tried to pull the officer away, he accidentally ripped off the badge and only picked up his radio so that he could press the “orange emergency button” to assist the officer, the court said.
Authorities say he originally told them he threw the items away in a dumpster because he feared he would be arrested if he turned them into the FBI, but later retracted that statement and told the officer that he buried the badge in his backyard.
Sibick is facing multiple charges for his actions. A federal judge in New York’s Western District allows him to be released on house arrest, although the Justice Department has filed an emergency appeal against the decision, CBS News reported
Sibick says he left the riot after the Fanone incident because of the violence.
Hundreds have been arrested since the riot, while federal authorities are still investigating the January 6 events that killed five people.