Capitol attack: Lone police hero barred rioters’ path to senators

A lone black policeman confronted Donald Trump’s mob and led them away from where they could have attacked politicians.

National Guardsmen in the rotunda of the US Capitol Building on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

A lone black policeman has been praised for confronting Donald Trump’s nationalist mob and leading them away from an entrance to the Senate where they could have attacked politicians.

Eugene Goodman found himself stranded before a few dozen rioters who had made it into the Capitol last Thursday. After they refused to stand down, the Capitol police officer held them back on his own for almost a minute.

At that moment inside the Senate, police were dashing around trying to lock the many doors that lead to the debating floor and the galleries above it — including one where Officer Goodman was. Had the rioters turned right they would have been at the main entrance to the Senate chamber. Instead they followed Officer Goodman in the opposite direction, where they were met by more police.

According to footage captured by a HuffPost reporter, Officer Goodman seems to have noticed that the door next to him was unsecured, glancing to his left after being driven up a flight of stairs by the agitators. He stood in the way of the entrance, before pushing the man nearest him, who was wearing a shirt celebrating the conspiracist QAnon movement, in an attempt to antagonise him and get him to follow as he led them away from the Senate and any members left inside.

Eugene Goodman confronts the mob in the Capitol Building last week.

“There’s a moment where the lead rioter looks right for a second, before continuing to follow the officer,” said Igor Bobic, the reporter who watched the scene unfold.

The praise showered on Mr Goodman online is in contrast to the prevailing mood of bafflement at the ease with which police officers were overwhelmed by a protest planned in public for weeks.

Steven Sund, chief of the Capitol police, said on Tuesday that congressional security officials had refused his request that the National Guard be put on standby. Mr Sund, who has resigned, claimed the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives told him he was not comfortable with declaring an emergency before the demonstration, and the Senate sergeant-at-arms told Mr Sund to seek informal help in private. Both the sergeants have resigned.

Mr Sund, 55, also told The Washington Post that once the scale of the event was clear, he pleaded for backup but was rebuffed by the Pentagon. Mr Sund said that Walter Piatt, director of the army staff, had said he could not recommend to the Army Secretary that the National Guard be deployed. “I don’t like the visual of the National Guard standing a police line with the Capitol in the background,” Mr Sund and others on a conference call recalled Lieutenant Generak Piatt saying.

Two of Mr Sund’s officers have died since Thursday. Brian Sicknick, 42, died in hospital on Friday. According to The New York Times he had been bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher. The family of Mr Sicknick, who supported Mr Trump, received condolence calls from Joe Biden, Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. As of Tuesday Mr Sicknick’s family had not heard from Mr Trump.

On Saturday Howard Liebengood, 51, an officer who had been on duty during the attack, killed himself. The former racing driver had been with the Capitol police for 15 years. His father, also Howard, was the Senate sergeant-at-arms in the 1980s, and later chief of staff to two Republican senators.

The Times