DC cops who defended Capitol sue to have Jan. 6 memorial placed in Congress

WASHINGTON (CN) — A plaque honoring police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from a mob of rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, was approved by Congress to be placed inside the building in 2022, but has still yet to be installed as conservatives began softening their positions on Jan. 6 defendants.

However, a looming court battle sparked by former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges’ lawsuit on Thursday could bring the memorial to life near the western front, where the worst violence occurred that day.

“After the law was passed, the politics around Jan. 6 changed, and many politicians who once spoke plainly about the dangers of that day began to rewrite its history, and minimize the terror of the attack,” the officers wrote. “Four years since Congress passed the law, and three years since the deadline for its installation has lapsed, the memorial has not been put up.”

Dunn and Hodges were both on duty during the riot and faced an onslaught of rioters at the lower west terrace. Their police line defended a tunnel leading into the Capitol Rotunda from rioters armed with flagpoles, mace, stolen police batons and shields and other makeshift weapons for hours.

After the Capitol building was breached, Dunn repositioned inside to protect injured officers. While inside, a group of 20 rioters began shouting racist slurs at Dunn, a Black man.

Hodges, whose first time at the Capitol was on Jan. 6, was separated from his platoon at the west front, hit on the head with a heavy object, kicked in the chest and knocked to the ground. There, a rioter grabbed him by the face and tried to gouge his eyes out, according to the officers.

Hodges later made his way to the tunnel, where he was nearly crushed between metal doors as the mob pushed forward.

“Many of the other officers who defended the Capitol and the elected officials inside that day did not expect to survive,” the officers said. “One officer trapped in the crowd heard rioters scream, ‘Kill him with his own gun’ as they grabbed ammunition magazines from his belt.”

Congress instructed the Architect of the Capitol to install the plaque within a year after the bill went into effect on March 15, 2022.

The plaque’s intended spot is along the path a newly elected president typically takes toward the inaugural stage, a particular point of contention leading up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, before he moved the event inside the rotunda due to below-freezing temperatures.

The suit marks a rare reference to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in the D.C. federal court since Trump issued sweeping pardons for 1,583 Jan. 6 defendants, including commutations for those convicted of seditious conspiracy, like Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes, his lieutenants and certain Proud Boys leaders.

Since Trump’s pardon order — his very first upon returning to the White House on Jan. 20 — Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio, the ex-leader of the Proud Boys, have since made frequent appearances in Washington.

Rhodes was spotted meeting with Congressional Republicans soon after Trump’s inauguration. Last Friday, he and Tarrio attended the sentencing of former D.C. cop Shane Lamond and called on Trump to pardon the officer, just as he did for them.

Tarrio, along with Proud Boy lieutenants Joseph Biggs, Ethan Norman, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola launched a lawsuit on Friday asserting that D.C. officers violated their civil rights during the Jan. 6 investigation, and are demanding $100 million in damages.

On Jan. 20, there were approximately 470 active cases against Jan. 6 defendants, which Trump quickly ordered then-acting Attorney General James Henry to summarily dismiss.

The officers noted that they have become targets of right-wing conspiracies surrounding Jan. 6, and have been accused of being “crisis actors” and left-wing conspiracy agents responsible for sparking the violence.

Dunn has had to increase security at his home and now carries his service weapon wherever he goes as he continues to face death threats and racist harassment. Hodges was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and anxiety adjustment disorder, the officers said.

They requested a federal judge order the current Architect of the Capitol, Thomas Austin, install the plaque in its intended spot and declare his failure to do so unlawful. They are represented by Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. who left in January.

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