‘War scene’: five key moments from the US Capitol riot hearing
- The first hearing from the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attacks was held in Washington on Thursday
- An injured officer spoke of ‘carnage’, and former president Donald Trump’s allies and family members acknowledging his lies
‘War scene’
The most compelling testimony of the night came from US Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, who sustained brain damage when she was struck on the head with a bike rack during the riot. She described a “war scene” that she said she couldn’t have imagined unfolding.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes, there were officers on the ground, they were bleeding, they were throwing up,” she said. “I was slipping in peoples’ blood … it was carnage, it was chaos.”
“Never in my wildest dreams as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer did I think I would find myself in the middle of a battle,” she said.
Edwards said she saw Officer Brian Sicknick suddenly fall and go “ghostly pale”.
“My cop alarm bells went off,” she said, saying she sought whether he’d been pepper-sprayed.
Sicknick died the next day. Video shows two men spraying him and another officer with a chemical, but the Washington medical examiner said Sicknick suffered a stroke and died from natural causes. His family was in the hearing room Thursday night.