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Prosecutors previously said Thomas Sibick was seen in body camera footage of police ripping Fanone’s badge and radio off while he was lying on the ground outside the Capitol. Fanone collapsed after the attack and was hospitalized, and later recalled in an interview with CNN that rioters had tased him and attempted to remove his weapon from its holder.
Sibick, charged with 10 federal crimes, including assaulting an officer and theft, pleaded not guilty. He has been in jail since his arrest in March, but argued that new camera footage of the police body showed the interaction was an unsuccessful attempt to help Fanone. Sibick is the latest high-profile Capitol Riots accused to claim that video footage of his attack requalifies the moment and that he was in fact trying to help the struggling police.
“He can be useful in the retirement home. He can be useful in prison. He can be a useful human being in life, but he was not helping on January 6,” US District Judge Amy Berman said on Friday. Jackson, adding that Sibick took “unique, determined and independent actions” to reach and seize Fanone’s equipment.
“He doesn’t hold him, doesn’t offer him help, doesn’t protect him with his body,” Jackson said.
Sibick’s attorney, Stephen Brennwald, argued he “just held out his hands … and the officer’s items were there.” When Sibick reached safety, Brennwald said, he tried to use the radio to call for help.
But, Jackson noted, Sibick pressed the emergency button 18 minutes after the attack, and 16 minutes after Fanone “was brought to safety by others and collapsed unconscious.”
Jackson also expressed concern about Sibick’s repeated lies to investigators about the stolen police badge and radio, although he is not facing charges for lying to the FBI. Sibick first claimed to have left the badge in Washington, then said he threw it in a dumpster, then admitted to having buried it in his backyard, court documents show.
Sibick’s family were seated in the courtroom during the proceedings. It was the first time they had seen each other since he was jailed, Brennwald said, claiming Sibick was crying.
Sibick has shown “more than what you would call good behavior” in prison, Jackson said during the proceedings.
But Sibick has struggled in recent weeks, Brennwald said. Other inmates gave Sibick a hard time being a “good-for-nothing”, and he has been voluntarily separated from other inmates over the past two weeks to escape harassment.
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