Officer injured in 6 January riot calls for independent commission: ‘I was tortured. I was beaten’

A police officer who was brutally beaten during the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol has joined calls for an independent commission into the deadly incident.

In video obtained by CBS News, DC Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone can be seen being attacked by rioters as they storm the US Capitol Building.

The assault, Mr Fanone told the broadcaster, left him unconscious, with the officer suffering a mild heart attack and brain injury during the siege, which left five people dead.

Speaking to CBS News’s Kris Van Cleave, Mr Fanone said he is still struggling with the impacts of the deadly event.

“All holy hell broke loose. The next thing you know, we were just in a hand-to-hand just battle,” he said, describing the moment rioters, including many Trump supporters, stormed the Capitol.

“I was tortured. I was beaten. I was, you know, struck with a taser numerous times at the base of my skull. And I posed no threat,” Mr Fanone said.

As he was forced to the ground by rioters, the officer said he feared for his life, calling out “I have kids”.

In the aftermath of the attack, the police officer said he has felt abandoned by the very people he had sought to protect: the lawmakers who had been inside the Capitol Building that day and who were forced to briefly pause the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory and seek safety as the siege unfolded.

With some Republicans having sought to downplay the impact of the insurrection, Mr Fanone said: “My initial feelings were feelings of abandonment. I speak to a lot of police officers, and that's the overwhelming feeling is that we've been abandoned.”

The police officer’s comments also came after just last week, 21 House Republicans voted against a bill to award Mr Fanone and other officers the highest congressional honour for their heroism during the deadly incident.

Asserting that the refusal to honour officers was likely an attempt to avoid acknowledging the deadly siege as much as possible, Mr Fanone said that possibility was “far more repulsive than voting against giving cops a medal”.

In a recent interview, Mr Fanone came together with GOP Rep Adam Kinzinger and Democratic Rep Eric Swalwell to call for a 9/11-style commission to investigate the events of 6 January.

Efforts to push for such a commission were blocked by Senate Republicans, with not enough GOP members voting in favour of the bill seeking to establish a bipartisan investigative body.

While 54 senators, including six Republicans, did vote in favour of the bill, it would have needed at least 60 votes to pass due to the filibuster, which requires 60 of the 100 senators to vote in favour of a bill for it to pass.

Speaking during the interview, Mr Kinzinger lamented the “struggles” Mr Fanone has faced since the siege.

“When you sit here, and you see the strength of Fanone here, you know openly talking about some of the emotional struggles that he has. And as dudes, that’s something we don’t like doing. I’m a military guy. He’s a cop. It’s not something that you know isn’t in our lexicon but it’s important to hear it,” Mr Kinzinger said, according to CBS News.

The Republican also hit out at peers and others who have spread conspiracy theories around the siege, ranging from unfounded claims of Antifa or BLM being behind the deadly incident to the FBI having organised the riot.

"The bottom line of all of this is cowardice. Because it takes strength to tell the truth. If you believe Antifa and BLM actually attacked the Capitol, you should want a January 6 commission. If you think the FBI organised the Capitol riots, you should certainly want a January 6th commission,” Mr Kinzinger said. “But if you believe that you've been lying about it the whole time, then you don't want a January 6 commission,” he said.

That's why we have to do it," Mr Kinzinger said.