The Department of Justice.
- A woman charged with impeding officers during the Capitol riot is now suing the DC police department.
- Victoria Charity White alleges she was beaten with a metal baton 35 times and punched in the face.
- Prosecutors say video footage from the siege shows White grabbing at DC police officers.
A Minnesota woman accused of trying to take a Washington, DC, police officer’s riot shield amid the chaos of the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack is now suing the Metropolitan Police Department for $1 million, alleging officers assaulted her while she was peacefully protesting.
Victoria Charity White, 40, faces six charges related to the riot, including violent entry, disorderly conduct, and impeding law enforcement officers. She has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The Rochester woman was arrested in April after an anonymous tipster alerted the FBI to multiple Facebook posts made by White detailing her participation in the siege, according to charging documents.
“A friend said Delete FB stuff. . . . I stated I’m not scared i was in the capitol DETAINED and they took my social security # name address they are coming for me. I am not afraid of them or anyone!! There I said it Come get me, You don’t know the story, it’s not what you think,” White wrote on January 7, according to prosecutors.
Authorities initially apprehended White on the afternoon of January 6, 2021, placing her in zip-tie handcuffs and escorting her out of the Capitol building into a police car, where she was taken to a station to be processed. Court records said White was released that evening with no charges filed.
Video footage from the riot shows White outside the lower west terrace of the Capitol building wearing a red hat and grabbing for a nearby DC police officer’s riot shield, investigators said.
“As the video progresses, the MPD officers attempt to push White back with their riot shields and fend her off with a baton,” prosecutors said. “White is seen in a red sweater, and it appears that she is attempting to grab a shield and uses her hand to block the baton.”
But in a civil lawsuit filed last week, White accused police officers of brutalizing her during the deadly riot, which her attorney called a “peacefully assembly.”
In the January 5, 2022 document, obtained by KAAL-TV, White’s attorney, Joseph McBride alleges his client was beaten, assaulted, battered, physically abused, and subjected to false imprisonment by being grabbed while she was engaging in protected speech. The lawsuit alleges White was beaten with a metal baton nearly 35 times and punched in the face five times during the riot.
The civil complaint targets the District of Columbia, the Chief of Metropolitan Police, and seven individual officers. White’s legal team is seeking $1 million in damages, as well as attorneys’ fees, and is demanding a trial by jury.
An attorney for White did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. The Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment.
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