US Capitol Police Officer Praised for Deterring Rioters During Siege Identified as Eugene Goodman

The police officer revered for his role in detracting pro-Trump rioters who breached the chambers of the Capitol last week has been identified by CNN reporter Kristin Wilson as Eugene Goodman

The police officer revered for his role in distracting pro-Trump rioters who breached the chambers of the Capitol last week has been identified as Eugene Goodman. By the end of the weekend, CNN reporter Kristin Wilson was able to identify Goodman, who was only known in the days following the siege of the U.S. Capitol as the man in a video who was confronted by a mass of rioters who had entered the building from gaining access to the chambers where senators had yet to be evacuated from, CBS News reported.

The video captured by HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic shows Goodman, the only noticeable officer in that section of the building, at the time, deterring rioters up the staircases of the Capitol building and away from members of Congress. "Here’s the scary moment when protesters initially got into the building from the first floor and made their way outside Senate chamber," Bobic Tweeted alongside the video.
 
In one frame of the video, Goodman is seen ushering a man wearing a QAnon conspiracy T-shirt, shoving him away from the area where the nation's highest-ranking politicians stood inside, hiding.
 
At one point, Goodman grabs a baton from the ground as rioters begin moving towards him. Goodman can be heard shouting, "back up!" to rioters as they ascended the staircase towards the floor of Congress. As they reach the second-floor, Goodman shoves the rioter leading the pack and ushers them away from the chambers into another section.
 
At this point, the mob is met with more officers who stop them in their tracks.
 
“As trump’s fascist mob ransacked the US Capitol, this brave USCP officer kept murderous rioters away from the Senate chamber and saved the lives of those inside. God bless him for his courage,” U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell wrote on Twitter Sunday, according to Reuters.
 
Goodman is an Army veteran who served in Iraq, WUSA9 reported. Following the riots, Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund resigned and the department has been facing momentous criticism for its security failures.
 
The man seen in the video wearing a QAnon t-shirt, leading the mob, has been identified by authorities as Doug Jensen of Iowa. Des Moines police assisted the FBI in arresting Jensen Friday night and he was booked into the Polk County Jail, CBS News reported. He was charged with five federal charges including unlawfully entering the Capitol, disrupting government business, violent entry, parading in a Capitol building and blocking law enforcement during the riot, CNN reported.
 
Five people died following Wednesday's riots including two women, two men, and a U.S. Capitol police officer. Three civilian fatalities were the result of "medical emergencies," officials said. Ashli Babbitt, a former officer in the Air Force, was fatally shot by a plainclothes Capitol officer, according to CBS News. Brian Sicknick, the officer who died, was struck with a fire extinguisher and died at the hospital the next evening, Inside Edition Digital previously reported.
 
RELATED STORIES