'No one took us seriously': Black cops warned about racist Capitol police officers for years

[StarfishSaver]

17. I don't think that's what happened

That was a case in which the officers performed perfectly.

If you watch the video from different angles, the officers were blocking the door as officers on the inside were moving Members of Congress from the chamber to safety. They couldn't shoot because drawing a weapon in a close confrontation with a mob like that where the officers are so outnumbered would only have resulted in the gun being taken away and probably used to shoot the officers before they could even use it. All they could do at that point was try to shield the door with their bodies, even if that would only slow them down.

Then, partway through, you see that tactical officers arrived and one of them drew a high powered weapon from behind pillar and aimed it at the rioters. At that point, the officers on the door slowly moved out of the way. They were no longer needed to hold the door because there was firepower on the other side and they needed to get out of the way so the tactical officers had a clear shot. And the minute one of the rioters breached the door by climbing through the window, she was taken out. And because the shots came from far away and the officers firing couldn't easily be overtaken and disarmed by the rioters, the rioters stopped surging and backed off.

I know it looked bad and I also initially thought those officers were derelict or complicit. But several friends in law enforcement and Secret Service explained to me that this was actually textbook and those officers at the door did exactly what they were supposed to do, did it perfectly and likely saved who knows how many lives by doing it that way.

That doesn't mean that other officers weren't complicit. But that wasn't the case here.