The District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department refused to provide Blaze News with copies of the Use of Force Incident Reports from its massive presence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Blaze News filed a Freedom of Information Act request with MPD on May 15, seeking the officer-prepared reports on the use of force for crowd control at the Capitol during the explosive Jan. 6 protests and subsequent rioting.
‘No, you’re going to kill her!’
Under MPD policy, the department had until June 2 to provide a response to the Blaze News request, but failed to do so until June 10.
“Your request was considered,” wrote MPD FOIA specialist Shania Hughes in a letter to Blaze News.
“A review of our records determined the information you seek is law enforcement sensitive and not for public release.”
Hughes’ letter cited §2-534(a)(4) of the Code of the District of Columbia, which states:
The following matters may be exempt from disclosure under the provisions of this subchapter: Inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters, including memorandums or letters generated or received by the staff or members of the Council, which would not be available by law to a party other than a public body in litigation with the public body.
The D.C. Code makes no mention of the subjective and nebulous term “law enforcement sensitive.”
Hughes’ letter said release of the details of force used against protesters at the Capitol “would constitute as a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” She cited §2-534(a)(2) and §2-534(a)(3)(c) of the D.C. Code, which make reference to “information of a personal nature” that would “constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
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MPD Sgt. Frank Edwards fires crowd-control munitions into the packed West Plaza crowd at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Department of Justice / Metropolitan Police Department
The sections of D.C. Code do not define the term “personal privacy” or explain why it applies to police officers employed by a government agency who were on duty during rioting at the Capitol.
Blaze News filed another FOIA request with MPD on May 1, seeking a record of all Jan. 6 use-of-force complaints. The department returned a spreadsheet listing a single complaint having to do with “shoving.”
Jacqueline Hazzan, legal counsel for the MPD Office of Police Complaints, said the details of that complaint would not be released because they would “reveal information about the agency’s internal deliberative process before it was completed” and “cause an unwarranted invasion of others’ personal privacy.”
The issue of police use of force on Jan. 6 still draws interest 4.5 years later because of what is contained on Capitol Police CCTV security video, MPD bodycam footage, and third-party videos that were often seized by the FBI for use in prosecuting close to 1,600 people who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
‘It wasn’t until I saw the video that I realized how bad it was.’
Metropolitan Police routinely refuse to release any bodycam footage from Jan. 6. Former Jan. 6 defendants have posted a large cache of MPD bodycam video, but the department practice has been that the public is not allowed access to Jan. 6 video.
Blaze News covered a high-impact use-of-force case in the point-blank shooting of Pennsylvania dump-truck driver Mark Griffin with a 40mm shell filled with hard rubber baton rounds. The shot — fired by an officer, according to video — split Griffin’s left femur from top to bottom. The injury required several surgical procedures to repair, including insertion of a titanium plate with 14 screws.
Sgt. Frank Edwards, the officer who video shows fired the shot, told a colleague late in the day on Jan. 6 that MPD went through 500 crowd-control munition shells, grenades, and gas canisters that day.
Other prominent Jan. 6 use-of-force cases included the beating of protester Rosanne Boyland by MPD Officer Lila Morris. Boyland had collapsed at the mouth of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel and appeared to be lifeless when Morris used a wooden walking stick to strike Boyland in the face, head, and ribs, according to video evidence.
Metropolitan Police Department Officer Lila Morris winds up with a wooden walking stick to strike protester Luke Coffee and shortly turns her fury to a lifeless Rosanne Boyland outside the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Department of Justice/Metropolitan Police Department Bodycam
It is unknown the extent of injuries Boyland suffered as a result. Third-party video and bodycam footage showed that Boyland was bleeding from her right eye and her nose. There was a visible injury above her right eye that was not mentioned or documented by paramedics, the emergency room physician, or the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in its autopsy report.
The use of the walking stick against Boyland was “brought to our attention and reviewed thoroughly,” MPD public affairs specialist Alaina Gertz told the Epoch Times in April 2022. The review “did not substantiate the allegations you have outlined,” she said, suggesting that the videos of Morris striking Boyland were not properly vetted for “authenticity.”
Bagshaw had ‘gone hands-on with demonstrators in Washington for years.’
The Epoch Times filed a FOIA request for Officer Morris’ Jan. 6 bodycam footage, but MPD refused to grant access, saying releasing the video would violate Morris’ privacy.
Protester Victoria C. White of Rochester, Minn., was beaten in the head, neck, and face by then-Lt. Jason Bagshaw and other officers inside the Lower West Terrace tunnel about 20 minutes before Boyland collapsed, video showed. Capitol Police CCTV security video and MPD bodycam footage showed that White was struck nearly 40 times with steel riot batons and fists.
At 4:11 p.m., a bystander at the tunnel mouth repeatedly tried to intervene to protect White. He shouted at police, “No, no, no, no. Please … please don’t beat her!” and “No, you’re going to kill her!” according to the bodycam of MPD Officer Andrew Wayte. In one violent series, Bagshaw repeatedly pummeled White in the side of the face with a closed fist, security video showed.
“It wasn’t until I saw the video that I realized how bad it was,” White said in a 2022 Jan. 6 documentary. She sued Bagshaw and MPD Officer Neil McAllister in March 2024. That lawsuit is ongoing before U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols.
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Protester Victoria White is tossed around by police during a severe beating in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Bodycam Images/Metropolitan Police Department
The lawsuit said White was subjected to “objectively unreasonable, excessive, and indeed, deadly force that shocks the conscience.”
Bagshaw has been with MPD for more than 22 years. A July 2022 article in the Washington Post said Bagshaw has “gone hands-on with demonstrators in Washington for years, winning colleagues’ respect but drawing criticism from demonstrators.” The article did not mention Bagshaw’s actions against White in the tunnel on Jan. 6. Bagshaw was promoted to commander in April 2022.
The FBI began collecting use-of-force data from law enforcement agencies nationwide on Jan. 1, 2019. Of 18,514 federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies nationwide, 5,481 reported use-of-force data to the FBI. Participation in the National Use-of-Force Data Collection is encouraged, but not mandatory.
Both MPD and the Metro Transit Police Department supply use-of-force data to the FBI, according to the FBI Crime Data Explorer.
In 2024, 11,445 of the nation’s 19,277 law enforcement agencies participated in the data collection system. The reporting agencies represent 72% of federal, state, local, and tribal sworn officers nationwide, according to the FBI.
In 2024, the primary uses of force reported included firearms, hands/fists/feet, canine, and electronic control weapons such as a taser, according to the database. Police uses of force were a response to failure to comply with verbal commands, attempt to escape or flee from custody, using a firearm against an officer or other person, displaying a weapon at an officer, and resisting being handcuffed or arrested, the FBI reported.
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Politics, January 6, Jan 6, J6, Fbi, Metropolitan police department, Mpd, Foia, Use of force
