Steven Sund, the now former head of the US Capitol Police, said he asked for help on the day pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, and was told that putting National Guard troops in front of the building in response to the mayhem was more about optics than it was about keeping the grounds safe.
In a brief interview with CNN on Monday outside his home in Reston, Virginia, Sund offered his version of events of what happened on Wednesday. He recalled requesting National Guard and speaking to the Senate Sergeant at Arms on Monday.
On the day of the riots, Sund said he was frustrated while on a conference call with a Pentagon official and other high-ranking law enforcement and emergency management officials, including Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee. Sund said he wanted help but was met with resistance from the Army.
“The Army had a concern with providing officers just to form a line,” Sund said. “I needed boots on the ground, immediate assistance, right then and there, helping to form police lines to help secure up the foundation of the United States Capitol building. They were more concerned with the optics.”
Sund told the Post in an interview that Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, director of the Army Staff, said on the call that he could not recommend that Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy approve the request because he didn’t “like the visual of the National Guard standing a police line with the Capitol in the background.” A DC official gave CNN a similar description of the comments.
In a statement to CNN, Piatt said: “As soon as Sec. McCarthy received the request for assistance on the phone call at 2:22 p.m., he ran to the Secretary of Defense’s office to request approval to assist the Capitol Police. While the two secretaries were meeting, I made clear to the participants of the conference call that I was not the approval authority. I told the assembled group on the call that we need to work together to develop a plan on how to use National Guard Soldiers if their participation was approved. I did not make the statement or any comments similar to what was attributed to him by Chief Sund in the Washington Post article.”
Sund said while he was on the call, the mob had already taken over, charging barricades and hitting officers with anything they could get their hands on, including fire extinguishers, flag poles and even the barricades that were supposed to keep them out. As many as 60 officers, who Sund said had been fighting for hours, were hurt. One, Brian Sicknick, would later end up dying from his wounds.
Sund said the fence line started at First Street but as soon as rioters “hit that fence, they tore it apart. There were thousands of them. Like eight to 12,000,” Sund said.
He estimated he had about 1,500 Capitol Police officers there on Wednesday. There are about 2,300 officers on the Capitol Hill police force, according to agency’s website.
Sund said he wanted the Army to get the National Guard to the Capitol, “as quickly as possible.”
He added that the USCP has policed other large scale events, and was anticipating a large scale event, but did not count on the violence.
“We didn’t expect a mob…riotous violent mob we got on that day,” Sund said.
He also addressed allegations that some officers let the Trump supporters into the grounds by opening gates. The now former agency head said the USCP did not allow them in.
“These officers take their mission extremely seriously to support and defend the building, to support and defend the legislative body, the leadership. I don’t think there’s any truth to that,” Sund said.
Sund also said that as the head of the agency, he took ownership for what happened.
“I’m responsible and I really feel bad that I saw the my men and women of the Capitol police go through what they went through,” Sund said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vZWRpdGlvbi5jbm4uY29tL3BvbGl0aWNzL2xpdmUtbmV3cy90cnVtcC1pbXBlYWNobWVudC1uZXdzLTAxLTExLTIxL2hfMDY0YTA0ODJjOWY3ODZhMzM1NzE1MGY0ODJiMGY1YjLSAQA?oc=5
2021-01-11 21:56:41Z
52781298838944
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar