By: Zach Linly, The Root
Donald Trump is responsible for the Capitol riot on Jan 6. I know it, you know it, Mitch McConnell knows it, and I’d be willing to bet every Republican who voted not to convict him in his second impeachment trial knows that there would have been no storming of the Capitol if not for Trump’s “stop the steal” propaganda campaign involving cheating Skynet voting machines and risen-from-the-dead zombie voters who all happen to be staunch Democrats.
Now, two Capitol Police officers are suing Trump because they also know who ultimately caused the World War Wypipo rebellion on Jan 6.
NPR reports that officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby have filed a lawsuit detailing the violence they said they experienced during the crybaby Caucasian commando coup in D.C., as well as the physical and emotional trauma they said they are still suffering.
From NPR:
Trump “inflamed, encouraged, incited, directed, and aided and abetted” the “insurrectionist mob” to force its way into the Capitol building to stop the certification of the election on Jan. 6. The mob “forced its way over and past the plaintiffs and their fellow officers, pursuing and attacking them inside and outside the United States Capitol, and causing the injuries.”
The lawsuit says Trump is liable for the injuries the plaintiffs and other Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers sustained that day.
Court documents include pictures of Trump’s Twitter posts and statements the former president made during the 2020 campaign questioning the integrity of the U.S. election system.
The officers are seeking unspecified monetary damages with the lawsuit. Documents say the “amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, not counting interest and costs.”
The lawsuit alleges that Blassingame was hit repeatedly, called racial slurs and pushed up against a stone column, causing injuries to his spine and the back of his head, which he said left him unable to move for a short while. Once he was able to move, the officer said he fled to the House Ways and Means Committee room where other people—some of whom were unmasked—were hiding from the mob.
“Officer Blassingame was acutely aware that many in the Ways and Means room were neither masked nor socially distanced from Covid-19 transmission,” the filing states. “He had no option but to remain in place.”
The suit also said the riot left Blassingame unable to sleep “and he could not talk about what happened, even with his wife and friends.”
As for Hemby, the suit alleges that he was sprayed in the face and body with “chemical irritants” that burned his skin, that he was “crushed against the doors on the east side trying to hold the insurrectionists back,” and that “over and over, he tried to tell the insurrectionists that the doors opened outward and that pressing him into the door would do no good.”
It should surprise absolutely no one that people who wholeheartedly believed Trump’s orangey-white nonsense also don’t understand how doors work.
The suit claims Hemby is still dealing with injuries to his hand, knee, neck and back and that he requires regular physical therapy due to the injuries. The suit also claims Hemby “continues to sleep poorly and feels hyper-aware and on high alert during his waking hours.”
And here we all thought Trump and his cult were on the “blue lives matter” team. What a difference a lost election makes.
