A captain of the U.S. Capitol police force who responded to the January 6 Capitol riot offered a terrible first-hand account on Tuesday of his experience in fighting white supremacists and other pro-Trump elements.
Protesters nearly broke their arm in the midst of chaos, Captain Carneysha Mendoza told senators at the first official hearing on the January 6 security breach. She and her fellow police officers were gassed to death. Many were hit with blunt objects and beaten to the ground.
“I received chemical burns on my face that have not yet healed,” said Mendoza.
The USCP captain, a veteran of the US Army, repeatedly referred to the January 6 riot as a “battle”.
“We could have had 10 times as many people working with us, and I still believe the battle would have been so devastating,” she said, a testament to how overwhelmed the officers were, as it took hours for the National Guard police forces to arrive.
The Senate was set to hear testimony on Tuesday from four Capitol security officials who oversaw the response to the January 6 Capitol riot, while lawmakers look for answers about what went wrong before and during the attack.
The four panelists who testified under Senate Rules and Homeland Security Committees were Metropolitan Police Chief Acting Robert Robert, Former Arms Sergeant Paul Irving, Former Senate Arms Sergeant Michael Stenger and Former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund.
Tuesday’s hearing is the first in a series of oversight efforts expected in Washington to identify failures in the collection of information that led to the security breach on Capitol Hill on January 6.
“It is certainly not the last hearing we will have on this attack. Next week, we will hear witnesses from federal agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, ”said Senate Rules President Amy Klobuchar.
But before the four panelists made their opening statements, Ms. Klobuchar invited Ms. Mendoza to tell her story, which demonstrated how violent the crowd’s attack was.
At around 1:30 pm on January 6, the captain was at home having lunch with his 10-year-old son when he received a call from a colleague asking her to come early. She had been scheduled to work a 16-hour shift starting at 3 pm.
“I literally dropped everything to respond to work that day earlier,” she said.
On her 15-minute walk to work, the dispatch officer informed her that there were six active scenes, including several clashes outside the Capitol and explosive devices that were found outside the nearby Democratic and Republican National Committee buildings.
Ms. Mendoza decided she would help with the scene of the DNC bomb, since it was the closest to her current location, but when she heard police officers on the radio asking for “immediate” help at the Capitol, she ran through the DNC for the legislature.
By the time she ran through the crowd on the east square and entered the building with the help of another officer, dozens of protesters had already breached the first-floor Rotunda under which the Capitol dome sits.
She jumped in line with other police to prevent other protesters from “going deeper into the building” through the corridors.
“At some point, my right arm got caught between the rioters and the railing along the wall,” she testified on Tuesday.
A sergeant pulled his arm free of the crushing weight.
“If it didn’t, I’m sure it would be broken,” said Mendoza.
The rioters ended up dominating the Mendoza line, sending police officers to other parts of the building to prevent further intrusions.
She went to the Rotunda, where she noticed a “heavy smoke-like residue” and smelled what she believed to be a military tear gas, “a familiar smell,” she said.
Tear gas mixed with the mist from the foamy white fire extinguisher that protesters unleashed, creating a noxious mist that exposed several dozen people in the Rotunda to feelings of suffocation and burning. That was when Ms. Mendoza felt the chemical burns that burned her face.
The Rotunda was a fierce battle between rioters and police.
“I witnessed policemen being knocked to the ground and hit with various objects that were thrown by protesters,” she said, although she never determined what those objects were.
As captain, Ms. Mendoza “took command” of the police on the spot and asked for reinforcements.
After “a few hours”, the police managed to clean the mob’s Rotunda.
But with the angry rioters still knocking on the door outside and pushing to get in, the officers had to guard against it for a few more minutes.
“The officers pleaded for relief, as they were not sure how long they would be able to keep the door physically closed with the crowd continually knocking outside the door, trying to obtain re-entry. Finally, the police managed to lock the door with furniture and other objects, ”said Mendoza.
Although it was widely reported by lawmakers and the media that the attack lasted about three hours, Ms. Mendoza noted at the time that her Fitbit showed that she was in the “exercise zone” for four hours and nine minutes.
“As an American and an army veteran, it is sad to see us attacked by our fellow citizens. I am sad to see the unnecessary loss of life. I am sad to see the impact this had on the Capitol police. And I am sad to see the impact this has had on our agency and our country, ”said Ms. Mendoza.
More than 250 people have been charged so far for their roles in the Capitol riot. Donald Trump was accused of inciting the bloody uprising in which five people were killed. The Senate found him guilty, 57-43, with seven Republicans voting with all 50 Democrats and independent Democrats. That result fell 10 votes before the two-thirds sentencing limit, which would have disqualified Mr. Trump from a future post.