The videos of Donald Trump’s human insurrection bullets crashing onto the Capitol grounds and breaking through glass to enter those hallowed halls made the impossible to believe at once possible. We can hear the words from the network news. Americans can read accounts in the newspapers, magazines, and online news sources. But until we actually see with our own eyes, none of it feels quite real. We need to see what happened that day through the eyes of one of the injured Capitol Police officer’s eyes.
The rioters overran the police as they gallantly defended our greatest symbol of democracy. They were at war, ill-prepared and woefully armed. The people storming our Capitol were in the primitive mob mentality as they knocked one policewoman unconscious.
They stole her memories and her ability to just do her job. She wrote about her trauma in a written statement read aloud by a prosecutor at a federal court hearing.
This statement grew the number of officers and their families who experienced those long hours holding off the insurrection for the cavalry they called never coming to aid them.
Prosecutors have decided to include her statement and those of other injured officers to bring life to that violence directly squarely at them. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged over 450 insurrectionists who assaulted around 140 officers, according to The Washington Post.
Ryan Samsel is the man who broke through a metal barricade near the Peace Circle causing one police officer to fall, knocked unconscious, suffering a concussion, and physical and psychological trauma.
Samsel joined the Proud Boys leaders as they marched onward. He picked her up and asked, as CNN reported:
‘We don’t have to hurt you, why are you standing in our way?’
The insurrectionist is still in a D.C. jail due to his history of assaults and violence toward women. The officer released her powerful statement calling for Ryan Samsel to not be released “No more women should have to fear injury at his hands:”
‘On January 6, you and a group of others purposely set out to break through our police line. You purposely came into the west front of the Capitol and you purposely knocked me down.’
‘When you do that, when you set out with a purpose in mind to injure another human being, you’re not only committing assault, but you are a thief. You steal someone’s ability to have control over their own body and lead a normal life.’
She continued, ‘You’ve stolen my ability to be present:’
‘You have stolen moments away from me that I can’t get back. You stole my ability to be with my fellow officers while mourning the loss of my friend, Sicknick, as I was not able to be fully mobile at that time.’
‘You stole months of me working alongside the country’s most dedicated police officers, a job that I love and work hard at. You stole my ability to be present at important events due to the physical and psychological trauma that you imparted on me and my coworkers. And now you’re asking to be set free.’
Then the woman asked a plaintive question “When will I be free … of my brain injury? When will I be free and full again:”
‘When will we be set free? When will we be set free of the memories and scars of that day? When will I be free and full again? Free of the fear that my brain injury will cause me embarrassment at the best of circumstances, and further injury at the worst. Because of this I am asking that Ryan Samsel not be released. No more women should have to fear injury at his hands.’
Now, the victims of January 6 are calling for justice. This officer said:
‘It’s not only an assault but a theft.’
Already on parole in Pennsylvania, Samson had a warrant for his arrest related to a 2019 assault charge in New Jersey.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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