Two police officers charged in connection with US Capitol riot
Jan 14, 2021
Virginia [US], January 14 : Two off-duty police officers in Virginia have been charged in connection with the US Capitol Hill riot.
Citing the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, The Hill reported that Rocky Mount Police officers Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson were arrested on Wednesday after they were photographed inside the Capitol making an obscene gesture in front of John Stark's statute.
A photo, which included as an exhibit in the criminal complaint released by authorities, shows the duo posing in front of the statue with their fingers raised.
In a social media post, Robertson said, "CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business... The right IN ONE DAY took the f------ US Capitol. Keep poking us."
According to the criminal complaint released by authorities, Robertson admitted that he and Fracker sent the photo to their police department colleagues, and after it was leaked to social media he reposted it on his own Facebook page. It has also been reported that Robertson stated that he broke no laws, did not know about the violence, and that he had been escorted 'in' by the Capitol Police.
The Hill reported that both men have been "charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds".
The US attorney's office for DC has charged more than 70 cases following the attack on the US Capitol that left five dead, and the FBI has opened investigations into more than 170 people, the American media outlet reported further.
At least five people, including a policeman on duty and a female air force veteran who supported Trump, died in the January 6 attack.
