(credit: U.S. DOJ FBI Criminal Complaint) Youtube screen shot from video taken outside U.S. Capital Jan. 6, 2021 of former NYPD cop Thomas Webster allegedly yelling “Send more patriots. We need some help”
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
A retired New York Police Department officer is accused of using a flag pole to attack a U.S. Capital officer during the January 6 Trump-inspired insurrection. Thomas Webster, 54, of Town of Florida, New York, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with any person assisting an officer or employee of the United States in the performance of their official duties while armed with a deadly or dangerous weapon, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a)(1). The riots at the Capitol disrupted a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress in the process of affirming Presidential election results. Webster voluntarily was taken into custody yesterday and, at a detention hearing today in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, was ordered detained with a future appearance date of March 3, 2021, according to the U.S Department of Justice criminal complaint.
The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Webster alleges that body worn camera footage depicts Webster’s assault on a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer who was assisting the U.S. Capitol Police in securing the exterior plaza of the U.S. Capitol on January 6. According to the affidavit, the body worn camera footage shows Webster — wearing a red, black, and white snow jacket, blue jeans, and brown work boots — approaching the MPD officer, who is barricaded behind a metal gate.
Webster, carrying a large metal flagpole with a U.S. Marine Corps flag attached to it, waves his finger at the MPD officer, yelling: “You f——- piece of s—. You —-ing Commie m————, man . . . . Come on, take your s— off. Take your s—- off.”
-U.S. Department of Justice
(credit: U.S. DOJ FBI Criminal Complaint) Former NYPD cop Thomas Webster allegedly attacking and beating a U.S. Capital Police officer January 6.
Webster then attempts to attack the officer by lunging toward him with the metal flagpole, striking at the officer with the flagpole numerous times , according to the complaint. Webster proceeds to break through the metal barricade and begins charging toward the officer with clenched fists. Webster ultimately lunges at the officer and tackles him to the ground. The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint further alleges that additional footage posted to an open source Twitter medium captures the assault and shows Webster pinning the officer to the ground and straddling him while he tries forcibly to remove the officer’s face shield and gas mask. According to the affidavit, the officer could not breathe during the assault because he was being choked by his chinstrap.
Video footage posted to YouTube depicts Webster on the staircase leading to the Upper West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol building, according to the affidavit. In that video footage, where he appears to be wearing a dark blue or black body armor vest over his torso, Webster says into the camera, “Send more patriots. We need some help.” -FBI Criminal Complaint
The cases are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Counterterrorism Section of the DOJ’s National Security Division, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The cases are being investigated by the FBI’s Washington and New York Field Offices, along with the Metropolitan Police Department and the United States Capitol Police.
