'TOTALLY LOST CONTROL'
What REALLY happened during Capitol riots: unseen clips show mob taking drugs and officers losing limbs & being tasered
FOR the first time, new camera footage shows shocking scenes of violence, drugs and inept security at the US Capitol riots.
Trump supporters stormed the centre of US government on January 6 following Joe Biden’s election success in 2020.
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And new footage on BBC Two documentary Four Hours at the Capitol shines a light on some of the most shocking moments of the unrest, including how one officer, Mike Fanone, nearly died at the hands of the mob.
The storming of the Capitol building began after Trump addressed his supporters in Washington D.C. as congress voted in President Biden.
He told followers to “walk down to the Capitol” and “fight like Hell".
Soon around 15,000 supporters marched their way up to the US governmental building, taking US Capitol and Metropolitan Police by surprise.
Officers told how they faced protesters breaking through barriers with knives and guns - with one officer losing half their hand.
Commander Ramey Kyle said: "If we had pulled our weapons and started shooting, I feel that there would have been huge loss of life, maybe on both sides.
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“It felt like we were 100 to one.
“Officers were falling off the line, they were bleeding, they were injured.
“I was terrified if they broke our lines they'd be able to encircle our officers and pick them off one by one.”
Soon protesters found another route into the Capitol through another entrance, manned by just a few guards.
Footage shows security running away from the protesters.
'Someone's going to get shot'
Once past the guards, rioters smashed in windows and climbed into the building - as one terrified officer ran away.
The protesters started streaming in the building to calls of “This is ours!”.
Photographer Ashley Gilbertson said: "I got the sense that there are some people here who are f****g around and playing dress up and there are some people who are not f*****g around"
"There's people carrying the confederate flag, there's people carrying spears and baseball bats.
“And I see this officer by himself shouting at everybody 'stop stop stop like stop right where you are'.
“One hand is up and he's shouting and he's really shouting - he's been very forceful and he's fingering his weapon.
“He's got his hand on his holster. He's unclipped it. I was like 'someone's going to get shot'.”
While one brave officer - Eugene Goodman - led the crowd away from the Senate where representatives were unaware of the commotion.
The mob reached a hallway where police and protesters momentarily diffused the tense atmosphere and diverted the crowd.
One man - dressed as a shaman shouted: "This has to be peaceful. We have the right to peacefully assemble."
Handing out joints
Rioters flooded the dome-ceilinged rotunda in the Capitol - where they took a break.
One activist Nick Alvear started handing out joints and got high.
He said: "I think it was actually a great idea.
“There was so many people up there that were amped up on energy. a contact high [second-hand exposure] would calm them down.
“And it may have, it really may have. Seven joints under the rotunda? Could have prevented some serious shit"
A video of Nick getting high went viral with 6.7million views on Twitter - and eventually led to his arrest.
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'Are they going to torture us?'
Meanwhile Speaker Nancy Pelosi, her staff and senators were led away to a secret room in the Capitol to shield them from the protesters.
Pelosi’s assistant Leah Han told of her fear as protesters began banging on the door they were hidden in.
She said: “We knew they were close by and that was the scary part.
"I was thinking if they find us are they going to keep us hostage? Are they going to torture us? Am I going to get raped?
"I don't know. Am I going to get shot? Do they have weapons?
"Then they started banging on our door. And they just didn't get in.
"I still don't know how they didn't. Maybe they didn't think it was worth trying to open.
“I thought I was going to die. I didn't think I was going to get home that day.”
'People were really, really scared'
Protesters then made their way towards the house chamber - as representatives inside were ordered to wear gas masks.
Representative Ruben Gallego - who served in Iraq with the Marine Corps - said he was willing to put up a fight.
He said: “People are hyperventilating. They were scared. I mean they were really, really scared.
“Individuals themselves aren't usually a problem but when they get collectively together and they create a mob, the mob is the weapon.
“I was ready to fight. I saw a lot of sh*t back in my day but I was not going to die on the floor of the f*****g representatives.
“I was not going to get taken out by some insurrectionist b*****d.
“My plan was to stab somebody in the eye and take away their weapon, fight to survive"
The floor was evacuated but representatives in the gallery faced an excruciating wait to be rescued.
They hid under chairs and prayed as rioters smashed glass windows.
Shot in the shoulder
Rep Jason Crow said: "That was the moment where I realised we were trapped. It was clear to me that there was no plan.
“The Capitol police had lost total control.
“There was no command in control. There was very little communication.
“They were surrounded and outnumbered and outmanned."
While trying to get into the chamber, air force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot in the shoulder and later died in hospital.
News of her shooting spread and angered the protesters.
'I still haven't made sense of it'
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At the entrance to the Capitol, rioters were trying to enter through a tunnel.
Police tried to shut the doors on protesters but in the skirmish one officer Mike Fanone was pulled into the crowd.
He said: "A member of the crowd grabbed me and I remember hearing them yell out ‘I got one’.
“Then I knew like... yeah I'm f****d.
“I remember just kind of getting pounded from every side.
“And then I remember people yelling out to ‘get his gun, kill him with his gun’."
There he screamed as he was tasered at the back of his neck and crushed in the crowd before he was handed back unconscious to the police.
He suffered a mild heart attack and brain injuries.
He said: “What I most struggle with is some of the emotional after effects or psychological trauma.
“It certainly doesn't help when elected leaders won't even acknowledge that it occurred.
“I still haven't made sense of it."
It wasn’t until 4.22pm - four hours after the riot began - that President Trump tweeted to call off the mob.
He said: "We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special.
“You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil.
“I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace."
Alongside Ashli Babbitt, three other protesters died at the Capitol - one from a drugs overdose and two others from heart attacks.
In the aftermath of the riot, one police officer Brian Sicknick died from a stroke after being pepper sprayed.
Four more officers committed suicide in the months which followed the riot and 140 officers were injured.
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President Trump was impeached for causing the riots but was later acquitted.
Watch ‘Four Hours at the Capitol’ on Wednesday 20th October, 9pm, on BBC Two and catch-up on BBC iPlayer. US audiences can watch on HBO Max.
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