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A former NYPD cop charged in the US Capitol riot brutally attacked a police officer with a metal flagpole hoisting a Marine Corps banner, new video shows.
The intense footage, first obtained Thursday by CNN, shows Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD cop and Marine veteran, launching a hate-filled tirade toward a Metropolitan Police officer on Jan. 6 — when supporters of former President Trump stormed the Capitol in hopes of overturning the 2020 presidential election.
“You f-cking piece of sh-t!” a man prosecutors say is Webster, 54, screams at the cop behind a barricade, the new footage shows. “You f–king Commie motherf–kers! You’re going to attack America? No, f–k that. Come on, take your sh-t off! Take your sh-t off, you Communist motherf–kers!”
The pulse-pounding, 56-second clip from an officer’s bodycam then shows Webster, who retired from the NYPD in 2011, violently barging past a barricade while wielding the metal flagpole as a weapon.
A criminal complaint alleges the ex-cop struck the Metropolitan officer with it “numerous times” before it being taken out of his hands.
Webster then allegedly charged at the officer with clenched fists.
“Webster ultimately lunges at [the officer] and tackles him to the ground,” the complaint states. “Webster’s assault of [the officer] while on the ground lasts approximately ten seconds.”
Assistant US Attorney Ben Gianforti said in April that Webster, who once guarded City Hall and Gracie Manson during his NYPD days, charged at the cop like a “junkyard dog” with teeth and fists fiercely clenched.
The clip marks the second public disclosure of new footage from the deadly Jan. 6 siege that more than a dozen news outlets sought in court filings after a judge ordered prosecutors to release videos, CNN reported.
The clips, including police bodycam footage and surveillance tapes from inside the Capitol, have been used in dozens of court cases, but were not publicly released due to pandemic-related restrictions and technical challenges, CNN previously reported.
Webster, who has been ordered held until trial on seven federal charges, has pleaded not guilty, according to CNN.
An attorney representing Webster declined to comment after the clip was released, the Washington Post reported.
At least 19 current of former law enforcement members have been arrested in the Capitol riot investigation, according to a review by the newspaper.
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