Caroline Edwards | |
---|---|
Born | 1991 (age 32–33) |
Occupation | United States Capitol Police officer |
Known for | Defending the United States Capitol during the January 6 attack |
Awards | Presidential Citizens Medal (2023) |
Caroline Edwards (born 1991) is an American officer of the United States Capitol Police who is known for defending the Capitol building and its occupants during the January 6 attack. She was the first Capitol Police officer to be injured by the mob of rioters on the day of the attack.
Edwards was stationed on the West front of the Capitol at the start of the attack. She signaled on police radio that her first responder unit needed help, and alerted several other officers around the Capitol that the police were being overran by the mob. She was then pushed over with a bike rack by Ryan Samsel, and hit her head on a handrail, which gave her a concussion and made her lose consciousness; she awoke minutes later and continued her defense, engaging with the mob in hand-to-hand combat for hours. She testified to the Democratic House Select Committee investigating the attack in 2022 and was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Joe Biden in 2023.
Caroline Edwards was born in 1991. [1] She is the granddaughter of a United States Marine who fought in the Korean War. [2] Edwards is from Atlanta, and attended the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. [1] [3] She graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in public relations. [4] [3]
Edwards joined the United States Capitol Police, which protects the Capitol building in Washington D.C., in 2017. [1] She was trained by officer Harry Dunn. She serves on the officers union board. [5] By 2021, she had worked on "hundreds of civil disturbances" to the Capitol. [6]
On January 6, 2021, supporters of then-U.S. President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol to prevent the counting of Electoral College votes in the 2020 presidential election that would confirm Trump's opponent, Joe Biden, to be the next President. The attack began just before 1 p.m., [7] when Trump finished speaking at Washington D.C.'s Ellipse park and his supporters who were listening started marching east towards the Capitol, including members of the Proud Boys militia group. [8] Capitol Police leaders knew of a threat to the Capitol but did not tell the stationed officers. [1] At the time of the attack, Edwards was 31 and a private first class officer. [3] [9]
That day, Edwards had been stationed at the Peace Circle on the West front of the Capitol grounds, backed by four other officers in the first responder unit. [1] [2] Her group, like other Capitol Police officers, had been trained for riots, but her group was not fitted with riot gear that day. A nearby school bus containing riot gear was available but was locked, and officers were unsuccessful at opening it. [1] Her group was also not behind a "universal fence" surrounding the building; [2] instead, she was stationed behind a series of bike racks in front of a series of stone steps. [1] [10]
Edwards was the first Capitol Police officer to be injured by the incoming mob once they reached the Capitol grounds. [2] At the beginning of the attack, a group of Arizona Proud Boys approached the Peace Circle barricade. [1] [12] Edwards called for help on the radio, which was heard by other officers around the building and was a sign that the mob was overrunning the police. [5] She attempted to delay their approach towards the Capitol while backup was arriving. [13] Proud Boys leader Joseph Biggs encouraged Ryan Samsel to approach the bike rack by which Edwards was posted. [1] [10] Samsel has denied this conversation happened. [14] Samsel then pushed the back rack over, which hit her on the head. [1] [10] This made her fall, and while falling, her chin hit the handrail of the steps behind her, causing a concussion which made her lose consciousness. She then hit the back of her head hit on one of the steps behind her, cracking it. [1] [2] [15] [16] The concussion gave her a traumatic brain injury. [5] The mob then began attacking the other officers, who were pushed back. [1]
Edwards awoke minutes later [7] while she was being picked up by Samsel, and then she shook him off and began treating the injured on the scene, such as decontaminating those who were pepper-sprayed. [17] [18] She then continued the defense, rushing to support the officers who had been pushed back and were holding a line in the Capitol's lower West Terrace. [1] [16] [17] She felt confused and dizzy while doing it. [19] She then engaged with the mob in hand-to-hand combat for hours. [2] While fighting, she was teargassed and pepper-sprayed in her eyes. [20] [21] She later said that in her training she was taught to control riots but not to do hand-to-hand combat. [21] She later testified to Congress: [2]
“I couldn’t believe my eyes: There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up. I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people’s blood. I was catching people as they fell. It was carnage. It was chaos. I can’t even describe what I saw. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer, I would find myself in the middle of a battle.”
— Caroline Edwards, House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack
The Capitol attack went on for four hours after Ryan Samsel's first assault. [22] Edwards stopped many rioters from entering the building; [9] at one point, she spotted a rioter heading towards an evacuation route for the Capitol's occupants, and handcuffed him, taking him to a prisoner processing section of the Capitol Police headquarters building. She then blacked out inside the building and was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, because the hospitals in Washington D.C. were full. The hospital gave her a CT scan and put her in a neck collar. [19]
Edwards temporarily left the force due to her injuries. [9] For months after the attack, Edwards was bedridden, and had episodes of vertigo, migraines, and fainting likely caused by the traumatic brain injury. [5] [6] [18] In February 2021, speaking as a member of the officers union, Edwards became one of the first Capitol Police officers to publicly criticize her department's lack of preparation for the attack. [1] In May 2021, Edwards returned to the Capitol Police force as a peer counselor for mental health. [23]
On June 9, 2022, Edwards testified to the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack regarding her experiences during the attack. [2] Her testimony was paired with footage of the attacks not seen before in public, including of her being knocked unconscious. [24] [23] As she was one of the first witnesses to testify in the committee's public hearings, [23] The Guardian wrote: "[Her testimony] showed viewers at home that the attack on the Capitol in Washington DC was not an accident, but rather an intentional effort to inflict violence." [21]
On January 6, 2023, Edwards and 13 other officers (3 of them posthumous) were awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Joe Biden for their work in protecting the Capitol. The medal recognizes "citizens of the United States of America who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country, or their fellow citizens". [25] On April 3, 2023, she was awarded the 2023 Dean’s Medal for Leadership Excellence from the University of Georgia Grady College for her "defense of the heart of American democracy". [3] As of October 2023, Edwards said she still has migraines from her brain injury and has to take monthly medication by injection. [19]
Samsel was arrested in January 2021. [26] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) discovered his identity by putting a picture of his face on January 6 into facial recognition software and receiving a match on his girlfriend's Instagram page. [27] In October 2023, Samsel went on trial, charged with assault on police with and without a dangerous weapon (a felony), obstruction of an official proceeding (a felony), and an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings (a misdemeanor). [26] He had pled not guilty, [15] and Edwards testified against him and four other co-defendants during the trial. [28] Prosecutors argued that he was the catalyst for the rioting. [18] Samsel's lawyer, Stanley Woodward Jr., argued that "Those barricades didn’t fall because of anything Mr. Samsel did or was going to do" ... "They were going to fall… It’s not even remotely possible to pin the events of Jan. 6 on Mr. Samsel." [7] He also said that "bike racks are not a dangerous weapon". [18] The trial ended in December, and on February 2, 2024, Samsel was convicted of all of the charges. [26]
The United States Capitol Police (USCP) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States with nationwide jurisdiction charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories. It answers to the Capitol Police Board and is the only full-service federal law enforcement agency appointed by the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States.
Peace Circle is a traffic circle in Washington, D.C., located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and First Street NW. At its center is the Peace Monument, also known as the Naval Memorial. It is a monument to the naval deaths during the American Civil War. The monument is topped by the allegorical sculptures of Grief and History. On the southeast side facing the United States Capitol there is a figure of Peace, and on the northwest side, there are figures of Victory and the babies Mars and Neptune. The monument is located on Capitol grounds adjacent to the Capitol Reflection Pool. The monument was sculpted by Franklin Simmons and completed in 1878. The monument was restored in the 1990s.
Marina Medvin is an American criminal defense attorney located in Alexandria, Virginia.
Joseph Randall Biggs is an American veteran, media personality, organizer of the Proud Boys, and convicted felon for his participation in the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of then–U.S. President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup d'état two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. They sought to keep him in power by occupying the Capitol and preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalize the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. The attack was ultimately unsuccessful in preventing the certification of the election results. According to the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the incident, the attack was the culmination of a seven-part plan by Trump to overturn the election. Within 36 hours, five people died: one was shot by Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, three died of natural causes, and a police officer died after being assaulted by rioters. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. Damage caused by attackers exceeded $2.7 million.
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John Earle Sullivan, also known as Activist John, is an American political activist and self-identified photojournalist who participated in the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol attack. In November 2023, he was convicted by a jury of felony obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, and five misdemeanors.
The following article is a broad timeline of the course of events surrounding the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, by rioters supporting United States President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Pro-Trump rioters stormed the United States Capitol after assembling on the Ellipse of the Capitol complex for a rally headlined as the "Save America March".
The January 6 United States Capitol attack was followed by political, legal, and social repercussions. The second impeachment of Donald Trump, who was charged for incitement of insurrection for his conduct, occurred on January 13. At the same time, Cabinet officials were pressured to invoke the 25th Amendment for removing Trump from office. Trump was subsequently acquitted in the Senate trial, which was held in February after Trump had already left office. The result was a 57–43 vote in favor of conviction, with every Democrat and seven Republicans voting to convict, but two-thirds of the Senate are required to convict. Many in the Trump administration resigned. Several large companies announced they were halting all political donations, and others have suspended funding the lawmakers who had objected to certifying Electoral College results. A bill was introduced to form an independent commission, similar to the 9/11 Commission, to investigate the events surrounding the attack; it passed the House but was blocked by Republicans in the Senate. The House then approved a House "select committee" to investigate the attack. In June, the Senate released the results of its own investigation of the attack. The event led to strong criticism of law enforcement agencies. Leading figures within the United States Capitol Police resigned. A large-scale criminal investigation was undertaken, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opening more than 1,200 case files. Federal law enforcement undertook a nationwide manhunt for the perpetrators, with arrests and indictments following within days. Over 890 people had been found guilty of federal crimes.
Dominic Pezzola is an American convicted felon and member of the Proud Boys who participated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, a violent attack at the U.S. Capitol. He is best known for stealing a police riot shield and using it to break a Capitol window on January 6, 2021, making him the first rioter to breach the building. Indicted in 2021, on federal charges, he was tried in 2023 alongside Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and his key lieutenants, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl. In May 2023, following a five-month jury trial, Pezzola was convicted of obstructing a congressional proceeding, assaulting a police officer, and other crimes. He was acquitted of seditious conspiracy, the most serious charge. The jury deadlocked on other charges against Pezzola, including conspiring to obstruct the counting of the electoral votes.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of then-President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building, disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes to formalize Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 United States Presidential Election. By the end of the month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had opened more than 400 case files and issued more than 500 subpoenas and search warrants related to the riot. The FBI also created a website to solicit tips from the public specifically related to the riot and were especially assisted by the crowdsourced sleuthing group Sedition Hunters. By the end of 2021, 725 people had been charged with federal crimes. That number rose to 1,000 by the second anniversary of the attack, and to 1,200 by the third anniversary, at which point over 890 people had been found guilty of federal crimes. These federal cases are handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (D.C.). State cases, of which there are fewer, are handled in the D.C. Superior Court.
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Ryan Stephen Samsel is an American convicted criminal who participated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack. He was charged with several crimes, including forcibly assaulting federal officers; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; carrying out an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds; and obstruction of an official proceeding—the United States Congress’s efforts to certify the election results. Samsel has been in custody since his arrest; his bench trial began in October 2023. In February 2024, he was found guilty.
Guy Wesley Reffitt is an American convicted criminal who took part in the United States Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. He was a member of the Three Percenters and was the first defendant to be convicted at trial for the attack.
Aquilino Gonell is a Dominican-American former sergeant of the United States Capitol Police who is known for the defending the Capitol building and its occupants during the January 6, 2021 attack. In 2022, he retired from the Capitol Police due to injuries he sustained during the attack. He received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2022 and the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2023. He is the author of American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy.
Daniel Hodges is an American officer of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department who is known for defending the U.S. Capitol building and its occupants during the January 6, 2021 attack. During the attack, he was crushed by rioters who had stolen police shields and pinned him against a wall. Afterwards, he testified on his experience in multiple trials over the attack, as well as the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack. He was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2023.
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