The select committee of January 6 will hear from 4 police officers on Tuesday. Here are their stories.

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The hearing will mark the first time the panel will hear public testimony and launch efforts to investigate the events on January 6.

The four officers who testified – DC Metropolitan Police officers Daniel Hodges and Michael Fanone, as well as Capitol Constable Harry Dunn and Staff Sgt. Aquilino Gonell – have previously shared their stories publicly, which include accounts of being beaten with a flag pole, being the target of racist slurs, being run over in a doorway and being teased by rioters .

During Tuesday’s hearing, officers will again describe what they went through on Jan.6, according to a source close to their plans, who told CNN that the testimony would at times be “quite vivid.”

Witnesses will also raise issues for the committee to consider, arising from the way officers continue to grapple with the physical and psychological injuries they sustained over six months ago and the care they are or are not receiving. not receive, added the source.

Here is what we know of the four officers who must testify:

DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone speaks to media in May about Capitl Police.

MPD Officer Michael Fanone

Of the hundreds of police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, none became more outspoken than Fanone. He has met with lawmakers, publicly supported the creation of a bipartisan commission, and criticized Republicans for whitewashing the day’s violence.
CNN exclusively obtained the camera footage worn on Fanone’s body, which shows how he was dragged into the crowd, beaten with a flag pole and repeatedly tased with his own Taser. The rioters stole his badge and seized his service weapon. When the rioters said they should “kill him with his own gun,” Fanone pleaded with the crowd and told them, “I have children,” according to the video.
Four people have been charged in connection with the assault, including a man accused of using the Taser. Fanone lost consciousness, suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized after the clashes, court documents show. These defendants have pleaded not guilty and are in prison awaiting trial. Prosecutors said they were preparing plea deals for some of them.

“I want people to understand the meaning of January 6. I want people to understand that, you know, thousands of rioters have come to Capitol Hill determined to commit violence, destruction and murder,” Fanone told CNN.

Capitol Officer Harry Dunn is pictured near the United States Capitol.

US Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn

Dunn has repeatedly explained how he and his fellow black officers still grapple with their heartbreaking experience on January 6, when they suffered racist attacks from insurgents during an assault on the United States Capitol. United.

“The struggle of the black officers was different because, like I said, we fought not only against people who were, who hated what we stood for, but they also hate our skin color,” Dunn told CNN’s Don Lemon in an interview in March. “It’s just a fact, and they used those words to prove it. They showed they hate us and they hate our skin color.”

Flags, signs and symbols of racist, white supremacist and extremist groups were displayed with Trump 2020 banners and American flags during the riot. Black officers played a key role in defending lawmakers during the attack.

Dunn is the only black officer due to appear before the committee on Tuesday.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson last week sought to undermine Dunn’s credibility, claiming without evidence that he “is an angry leftist political activist.”

“Dunn will claim to speak for the law enforcement community across the country, but it turns out Dunn has very little in common with your average cop,” Carlson said on his show.

The comments prompted an immediate response from Dunn’s attorneys.

“Tonight Fox News allowed its host Tucker Carlson, who hasn’t spent a single day in uniform, whether military or police, to criticize the heroism and service of the African American police officer. of the US Capitol Harry Dunn, “said lawyers David H. Laufman and Mark. S. Zaid said in a statement following the segment.

“Our client served 13 years in law enforcement and on January 6, 2021 fought a violent insurgent mob – arguably many Carlson supporters – to protect the lives of our elected officials, including vice -President Pence, ”they said. wrote.

Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, a Capitol Police officer is pictured on the grounds of the United States Capitol.

United States Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell

Gonell was beaten with a flag pole while defending the Capitol on January 6. His hand was cut off. And he was hit with so much chemical spray that the liquid got into his skin.

During intense hand-to-hand combat with rioters on the Western Front of the Capitol, there were times when Gonell thought he might die.

“They called us traitors. They beat us. They dragged us,” Gonell told CNN last month in his first interview about the violence he had witnessed. “And I could hear them, ‘We are going to shoot you. We are going to kill you. You choose your salary rather than the country. You are a disgrace. You are a traitor.’ “

Gonell said the FBI asked him to view video of the attack to help identify the rioters. It is always difficult for him to watch footage of events, he said in the same interview, having to relive the battles he fought while under assault.

He still has a vivid memory of what he faced: the pepper spray that forced him, along with other frontline officers, American flag poles, rocks and even guardrails. excerpts from the inaugural scene which were used to attack the fight to prevent the influx of insurgents from forcing the gate he was guarding.

“I bled, I was sweating, and I fought to keep these people out of this entrance,” Gonell said during the interview. “We were pushed back to the magnetometer by the second door. And just to regain that space took us about an hour. We were literally fighting inch by inch. And to take a step, it was 10 minutes, 15 minutes. test.”

Daniel Hodges is an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department who helped repel rioters at the United States Capitol.

MPD Officer Daniel Hodges

Hodges’ struggle with pro-Trump rioters has become one of the insurgency’s best-known scenes. Days after the attack, poignant images emerged showing him being crushed in a doorway between a massive crowd of rioters and the police line, writhing and screaming in pain. The video shows one of the rioters grabbing Hodges’ helmet and trying to tear it off.
In recent weeks, the Justice Department has released several new videos of this skirmish, which took place in a tunnel near the still unfinished staging area for Biden’s inauguration. The Justice Department only released the clips to the public after CNN and other outlets filed a lawsuit.
The footage was part of criminal cases against several people accused of participating in the attack on police in the tunnel area. A man, Patrick McCaughey, has been specifically charged with assaulting Hodges with a stolen police shield and seizing his helmet. He pleaded not guilty.

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