Capitol Police Officer Who Beat Victoria White Identified-Civil Case Holds Attacker Accountable Despite Sheltering By Government Leaders

Published February 19, 2022 by Nick Mastrangelo

By Nick Mastrangelo and Laura Elizabeth Jenkins

Attorney Joseph McBride will soon release the name of a commanding officer “held in high esteem” by Capitol Police. Despite his greater levels of responsibility as the highest-ranking commander inside the West Terrace tunnel on Jan. 6, he viciously attacked McBride’s client, Victoria White. 

White-a homeschooling mother of four from Rochester, MN-was unarmed when pushed into the enclave where officers crowded. She was viciously beaten by this lead officer and subsequently pursued by other officers who pushed, pulled, and maced her. 

Here is footage of what happened to White. Viewer discretion is advised.

“It looked like a goldfish in a fish bowl with a bunch of piranhas attacking it,” says McBride. “There’s no justification for that level of force against anyone-especially someone who is defenseless and objectively not a threat.”

One eyewitness describes police dragging White by the hair as they screamed obscenities at her. Roseanne Boyland-the woman next to her-passed away after a continued beating by DC Police Officer Lila Morse. Philip Anderson-also near Victoria-was crushed amidst a pile of protesters police threw on top of one another and hit. Anderson was rescued by defendant Jake Lang, who remains in DC jail.

This incident was especially unsettling for Victoria as a domestic abuse survivor. Over an earlier ten-year period, she endured head trauma and psychological torment at the hands of her abuser. She left this relationship, received medical treatment, and found strength through a newfound personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  

The man who injured Victoria may have seen her as an easy target or scapegoat simply because she was wearing a popular red MAGA hat when she came into his view. Despite this sudden display of rage, McBride states this individual “was featured in multiple news outlets, and in the HBO documentary as a hero.” 

“He was held out to the public by the left as someone who is a model officer that day, and he was nothing of the sort.”

Despite this other narrative, it is criminally negligent for his superiors not to reprimand him for such immediate use of unwarranted force. Failure to supervise his behavior and even the willingness to hire individuals who might be “prone to violence” in situations like this due to past criminal or psychological history is concerning, McBride states. 

White’s case ultimately affects whether the rights and human dignity of future peaceful protesters will be upheld. Another civil matter-brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt, alleges her wrongful death from the negligent behavior of Capitol Police Officer Michael Leroy Byrd. Byrd did not implement any use of force continuum- such as a verbal warning Ashli- before immediately shooting her. 

Other instances are emerging where families have recourse through civil courts. This is relevant at a time when many defendants’ children seek treatment from the psychological trauma of FBI house raids. There are also dozens of J6 defendants with aggravated pre-existing injuries due to police brutality at their arrest or incarceration.

American Gulag will continue exploring the outcomes and impact of these cases.

You can support Victoria’s legal defense at https://givesendgo.com/G23RK 

Her next status pertaining to her alleged charges on takes place 4/18. McBride states she faces “multiple decades in prison,” and estimates a trial date will be determined at that time. Your prayers, encouragement, and resources make an impact.

Listen to the full interview below:

Or, read the full transcript below:

Attorney Joseph McBride: With Roseanne Boyland, she lay there lifeless and dead. The guards and the cops thought he [Philip Anderson] was dead too but he obviously come back to life. It’s truly unfortunate what happened there that day.

With regard to Victoria, she was only a few feet away from that devastating situation and you know, she endured a vicious beating that was unprovoked. And it looks like, I don’t know if you’ve seen the beating, but it looks like a goldfish in a fishbowl with a bunch of piranhas attacking it and they just absolutely went ballistic on her and they have no- there’s no justification morally, or legally, for what they did. So we fully intend on holding them accountable and no question about it.

Laura Elizabeth Jenkins, American Gulag: So-is there a use of force continuum in a situation like this? Could they have used something else to move Victoria or speak to Victoria, give her a verbal warning? What could they have done differently rather than using such extreme force right out the gate?

Attorney Joseph McBride: Sure, I mean, there are multiple things that they could have done.  Starting with properly securing the Western Terrace and the rest of the Capitol, as you know.  Speaker Pelosi and people who are in charge of arms and other people that have a sort of authority over the Capitol Complex had advanced knowledge that there will be significant numbers of people showing up that day.

When the Western Terrace was lost, there could have been, there were plenty of things that they could have done. Starting with securing the perimeter. Taking different types of preventative courses of action, and the massive failure on the part of the Capitol Police Department, which didn’t do any of those things. 

Additionally, Victoria White was pushed into the tunnel area and what I mean by is that she went over to it, she approached it thinking that it was going to take her up to another level where she can go speak up there. But once she realized that it was actually a tunnel and entranceway into the building, she said,  ‘Oh man, there’s nowhere to go. What do I do? Where do I go from here?’  

And she was pushed in further and had nowhere to go. You can see in the video, she’s absolutely helpless the entire time. And for reasons that we will never understand the only thing that we can articulate with anything, any reasonable degree of certainty regarding why she was targeted, is because she had a Make America Great Again hat on she had a red Trump hat on.

The Commanding Officer-whom we know who he is at this point- who was in the tunnel, targets her as the highest-ranking person in the tunnel and he just absolutely goes off on her. So that’s a very long answer to your short question, but there is absolutely no justification under the sun for that level of force against anyone, especially somebody who is defenseless.  Especially somebody who was objectively not a threat, especially somebody who is a woman who was trying to escape that situation.  

She tried to leave that situation while being beaten at multiple points. And she was systematically and consistently dragged back by that officer and other officers in there- pulled, punched, kicked, maced, and beaten and there is no reason for that whatsoever.  Totally illegal conduct.

Laura Elizabeth Jenkins: So, are these police being put on some type of administrative leave- or how have they been so far just held accountable by their superiors?

Attorney Joseph McBride: This particular officer-we haven’t released his name yet- but this particular officer has been held in high esteem by multiple news outlets. He was featured in the HBO documentary as a hero. He has been held out to the public by the left as somebody who was the model officer that day, and he was nothing of the sort. 

So the Capitol Police routinely in these investigations have done nothing to hold their personnel accountable. And the DC Police have done nothing as well. They have been negligent in their duty of supervision. They have been negligent in their duty to reprimand officers who have betrayed their oath and things of that nature. And I would submit that they are also negligent in their hiring. I mean they have hired people who are obviously prone to violence. 

I don’t know if these people have criminal histories, psychological histories, I don’t know what’s going on here. You know, when you look at, let’s say, an officer like Michael Fanone, and you see that the guy has, you know, I have tattoos, right?   But I don’t have neck tattoos. I don’t look like I, you know, and most police officers don’t have their necks tattooed. You don’t see that kind of thing, right?

 So you look at that and it makes you question. Is there something more to this guy?  And then you see the officers that beat Victoria White, how vicious and how criminally he behaved, and you think: ‘Hm, I bet you this is not the first time somebody like this has behaved this way.’

The DC Metropolitan Police Department and the Capitol Police have done nothing nada, zilch, to address these issues, or to remedy these issues or to prevent them from happening again in the future and that will certainly be something that we draw attention to in our civil lawsuit. 

Laura Elizabeth Jenkins: Absolutely. So basically, how can people in the American Gulag community support Victoria?  I know that she’s a homeschooling mom, she’s you know, doing her best to raise her family. What can we do to help her so that I mean, although it will be very, very difficult for her to recover, that she can have the option and the hope of healing?

Attorney Joseph McBride: Well, that’s a great question. I think it’s a multi-pronged answer. First, people can pray. I think-we believe-Victoria is a person of faith and religious conviction, as am I and people who are supporting her. So we would ask you to pray for her success for her healing. 

Secondly, she needs continued medical care, physiological care, and psychological care. Obviously, she’s not in a position to pay for the highest level of care that she should without question have at this point. So if there are people who are willing to contribute with respect to those things, that would be fantastic. 

She has four daughters, and they-she homeschools the children-and they need support at home as well. When I mean support and prayers and financial support- because that is how things get done, right?  You have grace, which is the supernatural ability to accomplish what we can’t accomplish for ourselves and on earth, we need money to accomplish what we can accomplish for ourselves. And then of course, to donate to a legal fight. 

She is indicted, she is facing multiple years in jail for doing nothing. So we have to, we are defending her in her criminal case and we are also suing on our behalf in civil court.  All of that costs money. And the more money that she has, the more ways she’s able to support herself, her family in her legal fight, and the better off she’ll be. There is no question about it. You know if she has support that she needs financially, spiritually and medically, she’s going to get to where she needs to be a lot quicker than if she does not have those things.

Laura Elizaeth Jenkins: Absolutely. And I’ve noticed here that she has been indicted in the court notes, the court documents. Do we have any projected dates?  I know you have several defendants you work with, and do you know the dates these cases go to trial? You’re still working to get discovery, but what kind of timeframe could it be before Victoria’s case goes to trial?

Attorney Joseph McBride: So, her case was adjourned today.  She actually had the status hearing today and it was adjourned to Easter Monday. So the day after Easter Sunday, which is the 18th of April. It was adjourned to a status hearing for that day. 

I think on that day, we’ll be able to make the final decision in terms of where we are at with the potential offer by the government. And I don’t think we’re going to accept any offer in this case, as anything less than a dismissal or a minor misdemeanor or something like that. And then we should be able to wrap up and complete the discovery phase. I mean the government obviously has an ongoing duty to issue discovery and on a rolling basis. 

But I think we should be at that point where discovery will be wrapped on and we probably will be looking to set the trial date at that time. Now with regards to my own personal schedule, I have multiple trials coming up. I’m going to help somebody with a trial in May, Ryan Nichols with cases will be tried in July. Mr. Barnett’s case is scheduled a month later, Christopher Quaglin’s case a month after that. So, I would anticipate that her trial would not be until late 2022 or potentially even early 2023.

Laura Elizabeth Jenkins: Gotcha. Now I can see why people need the resources. They need the support, they need the grace-as you shared-to continue day after day. Thank you very much. We appreciate the generosity of your time as you’re practicing law to keep everybody informed of what’s going on and thank you for what you’re doing to assist and aid with Victoria.

Attorney Joseph McBride: My pleasure to be here. I’m grateful for the work that you guys are doing and have been doing-the fact that you’re raising awareness. I think that there’s something inherently important in the title ‘American Gulag.’ Those are two words that should never be in the same sentence.  Those are mutually exclusive words right?  

‘America’ and ‘gulag,’ they don’t go together.  But they go together now because there’s something fundamentally wrong with the way that this country is headed. And I would just halt the mind and remember it is a fact that there are several, there are dozens and dozens of people who are rotting away in solitary confinement in various gulags right now because of Jan. 6th and keep them in your prayers and keep their families in your prayers. Whatever anybody can do to one of those people, if it’s within your wheelhouse or within your power, I certainly encourage you to do it. Thank you again.

Laura Elizabeth Jenkins: Yes, it’s a pleasure.