New video shows gym owner attacking police officer during Capitol riot, prosecutors say
Scott Fairlamb has been charged with 12 criminal counts, including assaulting police
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Your support makes all the difference.Newly released footage from the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol Building appears to show a supporter of former President Donald Trump attacking a police officer during the incident.
In the new video, a man identified by prosecutors as Scott Fairlamb, a gym owner from New Jersey, can be seen following police officers and taunting them before pushing and punching another officer.
At one point in the video, the man can be heard shouting: “You have no idea what the f**k you’re doing” to police.
“Don’t touch me,” he can later be heard shouting in the video as one officer appears behind him.
He then shoves the officer, before pointing a finger at him.
As the officer regains his footing and appears to attempt to slap the man’s hand away, that is when the man appears to punch him.
Mr Fairlamb is believed to have been one of the first people to reach the Senate side of the building during the deadly riot.
He has been charged with 12 criminal counts, including assaulting police and carrying a dangerous weapon into the Capitol.
Mr Fairlamb has pleaded not guilty, according to CNN.
The video of the altercation was one of four clips released by the Justice Department on Friday that were used in Mr Fairlamb’s case.
Among the videos were the footage taken from a police body-worn camera, video taken by someone in the crowd and posted to YouTube, as well as two videos Mr Fairlamb uploaded to social media himself while on Capitol grounds during the insurrection.
In one of the videos posted to social media, a man identified as Mr Fairlamb shouts:”What patriots do? We f**king disarm them and then we storm the f***kng Capitol! F**k you!".
He also appears to carry a baton into the Capitol, according to CNN.
The video was reportedly an important factor in Judge Royce Lamberth of the DC District Court’s decision to determine that Mr Fairlamb might still be dangerous.
"If any crime establishes danger to the community and a disregard for the rule of law, assaulting a riot-gear-clad police officer does," Lamberth wrote in April, according to CNN, as he decided to keep Mr Fairlamb in jail pending trial.
With Mr Fairlamb reportedly having a history of assault charges, the judge wrote: “The defendant's history of punching people in the face suggests that he may punch people in the face again.”
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