Jury will soon put 'self-defense' theory to test in trial of ex-cop charged with assaulting police
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Grasping for a favorable verdict, ex-cop Thomas Webster has told jurors trying his case in Washington, D.C., that when he came to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and proceeded to charge a police officer with a metal pole before tackling him and choking him, it was just self-defense.
The 56-year-old and his attorney have relied on Webster’s experience as a former U.S. Marine and 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department to convince jurors that his conduct that day was the rational response of an otherwise upstanding man provoked by “rogue” police who invited him to brawl.
But prosecutors have shown jurors evidence and presented testimony that they say depicts Webster clearly and only in the light that the cameras caught him in: raging, screaming, and cursing at outnumbered police who were separated from the mob by little more than bike rack barricades.
Webster’s trial is the sixth trial connected to the Capitol attack to go forward and he is the second police officer to face a jury. Prosecutors have indicted Webster on a half dozen counts including felony assault of law enforcement while using a dangerous weapon, engaging in violence with a deadly weapon, entering a restricted area, and more.
Webster Criminal Complaint by Daily Kos on Scribd
According to WUSA9 reporter Jordan Fischer, when he took the stand this week, Webster said that by the time he arrived on foot at the Capitol, he “immediately” saw “weeping children” and an elderly couple who had been injured. The woman, Webster said, had blood strewn about her face, and that enraged him.
“Why are they doing this to us?” Webster said Thursday, describing his thought process at the moment to jurors.
Webster testified that after he moved through the crowd—to begin helping people, he claimed—once making it to the front line, he was greeted by an unwelcoming band of police, including Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun.
According to BuzzFeed reporter Zoe Tillman, Webster told jurors the reason he pushed up against the police line was that he wanted to learn why people had been injured further behind him in the crowd though he did not say whether he actually witnessed anyone being assaulted by police.
His voice is ragged as he screams at them.
“You fucking piece of shit. You fucking commie motherfuckers man. Gonna attack Americans? Fuck that,” Webster says. “Fucking commie fuck. Come on, take your shit off. Take your shit off. You communist motherfuckers. Fuck you.”
Webster then clenches the bike rack barricade with one hand, the metal pole in another, and shoves the rack in the direction of police, appearing to trigger a wave of reactions around him by other rioters as he proceeds next to lunge toward Rathbun with the metal pole.
Webster said he shoved the bike rack out of frustration and told jurors that Rathbun’s attempt to strike him moments before he whipped the pole around was what started the conflict.
Rathbun has denied ever striking him but admitted that his open hand brushed Webster’s face when he attempted to push the 56-year-old ex-cop away.
Webster said that open-handed contact felt like a “punch” delivered by a “freight train.”
Defense attorney James Monroe argued this week that jurors should be skeptical of Rathbun because he failed to report the altercation with Webster from Jan. 6 but did file reports over an injury to his hand from an unrelated scrap in the Capitol rotunda.
Monroe said the federal prosecutor’s case was “built on the lies of a young officer.”
A detective on the Metropolitan Police force who studied the assault of police at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Jonathan Lauderdale, according to BuzzFeed, praised Rathbun at the trial for using restraint when Webster attacked him with the pole.
And though the detective did not initially see the brief moment in the footage where Rathbun’s open hand touched Webster’s face, he told jurors Rathbun using a hand to create space between himself and the defendant would not have violated any use of force policies.
Jurors were also asked to assess Webster’s hands from the day and in particular in a moment where the former Marine is seen standing over Rathbun after knocking him to the ground.
Webster claimed an image of him with his hands pressed up against Rathbun’s face and mask was merely an example of him trying to show Rathbun where his hands were.
He reportedly told jurors Thursday that in his experience as a police officer, when engaging with nervous or unpredictable people, making the hands visible might remove tension from the situation.
This story is developing.