Thomas WEBSTER - eye-gouger a retired NYPD officer and former Marine

United States Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department

historical summary

You might find this previous article (written in early February) helpful to better understand what the US Capitol Police (USCP) and Metropolitan Police Departments (MPPD) endured during the hours long hand to hand combat. A day after the Jan 6th Insurrection- I tweeted a lengthy thread and posted an affidavit filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia

That Affidavit was the first, and largely overlooked Court document that provided a critical tick-tock of both USCP and MPPD between 12:49PM through 2:10PM. I concluded the ¹Twitter Thread with the (then) US Capitol Police Chief Sund press release - read what I highlighted. The USCP had TWO simultaneous “pipe-bomb” incidents and a “suspicious vehicle” incident. They were also transitioning personnel from Trump’s Rally to the Capitol. These facts matter both in terms of context and content.

USCP officers were simultaneously responding to a report of a pipe bomb in the 300 block of First Street, SE, and a second pipe bomb in the 400 block of Canal Street, SE.  A suspicious vehicle was also identified in the 300 block of First Street, SE, at this time.
The USCP Hazardous Materials Response Team determined that both devices were, in fact, hazardous and could cause great harm to public safety.  The devices were disabled and turned over to the FBI for further investigation and analysis.

Twitter started ramping up intensity to crucify the USCP and MPPD2 -Thousands of users, tens of thousands of tweets per hour. Predictably dueling narratives began to take root

• Twitter users on the Right; USCP let us in, we were just following Trump’s orders, we were invited to the Capitol”

• Twitter users on the left; “USCP helped the insurrectionist…inside job…they gave insurrectionist inside information…USCP is fully compromised”

…for a brief moment, I found myself caught up in the Twitter fueled anger.
However I quickly decided to reset my perspective. Forcing myself to wait for facts before tweeting an uninformed prognostication. In any “breaking news” scenario information comes flooding in and it’s difficult to know what’s fact versus “rumor” - I get it that most don’t understand the DC Alphabet soup-hierarch, jurisdictional limits, or Law Enforcement perspective “who’s in charge”…it’s complicated. And lastly according to publicly available information, for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 the USCP has more than 2,300 police officers and civilian employees, and an annual budget of $460 million dollars.²

As you know this week Congress held several hearings- expect more to come in the coming months. In what little free time I had (in between my actual j-o-b, homeschooling my littles and other life stuff) I managed to catch (former) US Capitol Police Chief Sund’s ³opening statement. It’s this part that struck a cord with me

I genuinely wish all of my Twitter research wasn’t gone -but I’m coming to terms with having to rebuild it. Now let’s dive into 👇🏻

THOMAS WEBSTER Charged & enhanced penalty for deadly weapon

Cleavon MD @Cleavon_MD

ARRESTED: Thomas Webster AKA #EyeGouger is a retired NYPD Cop accused of attacking Capitol Police with a pipe and gouging out their eyes. Webster's attorney, James Monroe, declined to comment Tuesday.

Affidavit via DOJ-Capitol Breach Cases database or via ECF/PACER

Current Case Status: Arrested 2/22/21 in the Southern District of New York. Initial Appearance 2/23/2021 and ordered detained. Note the redacted box under Thomas Webster’s name, that’s indicative of a “potential” co-defendant

The affidavit states - in part: Thomas Webster, wore a bulletproof. He has prepared for "armed conflict" - the FBI obtained bodyworn camera (“BWC”) footage from the Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”). The BWC footage shows violent assault of MPD Officer N.R. which occurred near a barricade line at the base of the West Front of the Capitol building. Further the BWC footage shows, that approximately 2:28 p.m. EST - the assailant was later identified as Thomas Webster, a former US Marine and most recently a retired New York City Police Officer.

The still-shots from the BWC are beyond disturbing - Defendant Webster looks like he wanted to kill officer N.R. The duality of how a (now) retired NYPD Officer would so viciously attack a few law enforcement officer is just hard to comprehend.

For unknown reasons, Defendant Webster appeared to be laser focused on Officer N.R. During the course of this sickening massault - Webster managed to tackle Officer N.R to the ground. His BWC footage -the still frame this is what the officer saw as he was on his back. It is just chilling. The affidavit goes on to provide some really disturbing details of what the BWC footage contained, for example;

WEBSTER then attempts to attack N.R. by lunging toward him with the metal flagpole. WEBSTER strikes at N.R. with the flagpole numerous times…N.R. is eventually able to wrest the weapon away from WEBSTER’s clutch before N.R. falls to the ground. N.R. quickly stands back up, and begins retreating further behind the metal

After WEBSTER knocked Officer N.R. down, this is what the BWC video footage captured. Not to belabor the point - WEBSTER was a recently retired NYPD Officer, he did this to a “fellow brother in blue” - after watching some of the video footage, in my opinion Webster had murder in his eyes, and his actions are pure evil.
Investigators spoke with Officer N.R. who disclosed the assailant, pulled his mask off and then used the metal pipe to cut off his air flow. The same pipe that Investigators determined Webster used to repeatedly beat Officer N.R. with.

The level of meticulous investigation by this FBI agent is truly superb. The agent stitched the BWC footage to other open source videos (on Twitter) and this allowed for multiple point of views. Giving investigators a stunning amount of video perspectives.

Defendant Webster -Charges;

With all due candor, these are very serious charges filed to date by prosecutors. The “enhanced or enhancement penalty” by statute that twenty years for each count

18 U.S.C. §111 - Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon⁴

18 U.S.C § 231(a)(3) - Obstruction of Law Enforcement During Civil Disorder; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon;

18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1), (2), (4) and (b)(1)(A) - Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon;

40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D), (F),Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds…subdivision (e)(2)(F), to willfully and knowingly engage in an act of physical violence in the Grounds or any of the Capitol Buildings.

The Relevant Court Filings:

DDC MJ-Case # 1:21-mj-00244

• Criminal Complaint ECF/PACER

• Affidavit/Statement Of Facts ECF/PACER

• Docket Report found here

SDNY MJ Case # 7:21-mj-02050-UA

• Affidavit ECF/PACER

• ORDER -Commitment to another District found here or here

• SDNY Docket Report, found here or here

The SDNY-MJ case was close on February 24, 2021 - Webster’s next Court Appearance is March 3, 2021…

1. What happened on Jan6th was a catastrophe breakdown of numerous Federal Agencies, yet some are hellbent on laying the blame/burden solely rest on the shoulders of both USCP and MPPD. Which is intellectually dishonest and completely unfair to both Law Enforcement agencies.

2. Yes a small number of USCP may have helped some of the violent insurrectionist. To date six USCP Officers have been suspended and more than 36 are currently under investigation.

• Paul D. Irving, Former Sergeant At Arms (2012-2021), U.S. House of Representatives, written testimony; https://www.rules.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony_Irving.pdf

• Steven A. Sund, Former Chief Of Police (2019-2021) U.S. Capitol Police, written testimony; https://www.rules.senate.gov/download/testimony-of-steven-a-sund&download=1

• Michael C. Stenger, Former Sergeant At Arms And Doorkeeper (2018-2021) U.S. Senate, written testimony; https://www.rules.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony_Stenger1.pdf

• Robert J. Contee III, Acting Chief Of Police, Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia Washington , DC - written testimony; https://www.rules.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony_Contee.pdf

3.

4. Government Printing Office, last visited February 24, 2021 - 18 U.S.C. §111 (a) (1) and (b) ENHANCED-PENALTY -Whoever, in the commission of any acts described in subsection (a), uses a deadly or dangerous weapon (including a weapon intended to cause death or danger but that fails to do so by reason of a defective component) or inflicts bodily injury, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both