<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654825550645,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-00b6-db7d-abfd-7cb766d10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654825550645,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-00b6-db7d-abfd-7cb766d10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54718075", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1028535"} }); ","_id":"00000181-4b4a-d1f1-a1c3-7bcb000d0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedAs the chaos unfolded at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, Caroline Edwards, a U.S. Capitol Police officer, faced what she described as a war scene, “slipping in people’s blood” as she tried to contain the rioters.
Edwards, who is believed to have been among the first officers to suffer injuries during the riot, recalled the graphic scene during her testimony Thursday evening before the House select committee investigating the riot.
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Capitol Riot Investigation“I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were officers on the ground, they were bleeding, they were throwing up, they were, they had, I mean, I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people’s blood,” she recalled.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that, as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer, I would find myself in the middle of a battle. I’m trained to detain a couple of subjects and handle a crowd, but I’m not combat trained. And that day, it was just hours of hand-to-hand combat,” she continued.
At one point, she happened to be stationed next to Brian Sicknick, an officer who died a day after the riot. Edwards explained she believed she saw him suffering the effects of pepper spray before getting doused herself.
“He was mostly pale, which I figured at that point that he had been sprayed and I was concerned. My cop alarm bells went off because if you get sprayed with pepper spray, you’re going to turn red,” she recounted. “I got sprayed in the eyes as well.”
Eventually, Edwards was pinned down with a bike rack wielded by protesters and was rendered unconscious.
“I felt the bike rack come on top of my head, and I was pushed backwards. My foot caught the stair behind me, and I — my chin hit the handrail, and then at that point, I had blacked out. But … the back of my head clipped the concrete stairs behind me,” she recalled.
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On the day of the riot and shortly thereafter, Edwards said she faced vile questions about her honor and had been disparaged for protecting the Capitol. She argued that her grandfather who fought in the Korean War would be proud of what she did for her country that day.
“They dared to question my honor,” she said in her opening statement. “They dared to question my loyalty and questioned my duty. I’m a proud American who sacrificed everything to make sure that the America my grandfather fought for is here for many years.”
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