Newly released bodycam footage from the January 6 Capitol attack appears to show rioter Thomas Sibick ripping off and taking an injured police officer’s badge and radio.
Sibick, 35, of Buffalo, New York, has been indicted on several charges related to the Capitol riots, including assaulting an officer. The Department of Justice released the video to the public Tuesday as part of a lawsuit. Sibick’s face is visible in the video as part of a crush of rioters who appear to be attacking, beating and tasing DC Police Officer Mike Fanone.
The DOJ says Sibick “participated in one of the worst assaults on the Capitol’s police defenders” by attacking Fanone, according to court documents.
The bodycam footage, which is being used in the case against Sibick, has been annotated by prosecutors at various points to show where Sibick allegedly grabs the badge in his left hand and rips it off of Fanone’s uniform, then allegedly grabs the radio by the antenna with his right hand.
Court documents say Fanone’s vest had a large tear caused by “a rioter” who forcibly tore off his badge.
Sibick’s defense attorneys have argued he was non-violently attempting to help pull the officer away from the rioters, not steal police property.
Fanone later passed out and was taken to a hospital where he was found to have had a concussion and a heart attack. “The experience I had on the Hill was a difficult one,” Fanone said. “It’s very, it’s tough, you know, kind of reliving, like, the most traumatic experience of your entire life over and over and over again, to a lot of people who I think, really are devoid of compassion.”
Initially, Sibick told the FBI that he threw the stolen badge and police radio in the trash. However, prosecutors say he later admitted he buried the badge in his backyard. Investigators have not determined the location of Fanone’s radio.
An additional video used in court, allegedly posted to an Instagram story from Sibick’s phone, shows Sibick as part of the frontline of Capitol rioters, saying he had just been teargassed. He can be heard yelling “We’re pushing forward now!” at one point.
The U.S. Attorney’s list of official charges against Sibick includes: obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting; civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct on restricted building or grounds; impeding ingress and egress in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence on restricted building or grounds; impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings; acts of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings; and robbery.
Newsweek reached out to Sibick’s defense team for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
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