Capitol police officer reveals rioters called him a ‘traitor’ for refusing to help hang Mike Pence

‘They thought we were there for them and we weren’t, so they turned against us’

Capitol rioters called a police officer a “traitor” when they realised he wasn’t going to help them in their attack on Congress, including as they at times chanted “hang Mike Pence”.

Capitol Police Sgt Aquilino Gonell told CNN that “traitor” was the worst and most personally hurtful thing he was called as he served in the military for years, including being deployed to Iraq.

“They kept saying, ‘Trump sent me, we won’t listen to you, we are here to take over the Capitol, we are here to hang Mike Pence,’” he said. “They thought we were there for them and we weren’t, so they turned against us. It was very scary because I thought I was going to lose my life right there.”

Sgt Gonell said he thought many more could have died if Capitol Police hadn’t acted quickly to move lawmakers to secure locations.

“All I could think was, ‘We can’t let these people in, there’s going to be a slaughter inside’,” Sgt Gonell said.

He was beaten with a flagpole and had his hand cut open during the riot, as well as being attacked with a chemical spray.

“They called us traitors. They beat us. They dragged us,” Sgt Gonell told CNN. “And I could hear them, ‘We’re going to shoot you. We’re going to kill you. You’re choosing your paycheck over the country. You’re a disgrace. You’re a traitor.’”

Sgt Gonell still suffers from injuries he sustained during the riot: he needed foot surgery to be able to walk without pain and his shoulders are still brusied.

He immigrated from the Dominican Republic at the age of 12, later joining the Army Reserve and deploying to Iraq in 2003. He became a Capitol Police officer in 2008 and is a leader of the Civil Disturbance Unit within Capitol Police. During the attack on the Capitol he fought in riot gear, often in hand to hand combat, with the mob.

“When we were in the Lower West Terrace and throughout the whole ordeal I had people calling me immigrant, you're not American, you are a traitor,” Sgt Gonell told CNN. “I went overseas to protect our homeland from foreign threats, but yet here I am battling them in our own Capitol.

“I bled, I sweat and I fought to prevent those people coming in through that entrance. We got pushed back all the way to magnetometer by the second door. And just to regain that space took us about another hour. We literally were fighting inch by inch. And to move one step, that was a 10-minute, 15-minute ordeal.”

The mob got hold of the sergeant as he tried to pull back another officer who had fallen to the floor.

“It was very scary because I thought I was going to lose my life,” he said. “Then I started getting beat up with a flagpole, with a flag, the American flag that I swore to defend here and overseas. And I don’t know how I got this strength, but I hit that person so hard that they let me go. I started backpedalling.”

Sgt Gonell finally got a break from the fighting after five hours.

“I started texting my wife and I just said, ‘I’m OK. See you whenever.’” He finally got home at around 3am.

“When I came in, she wanted to hug me, and I told her no, because I was covered in pepper spray and I didn’t want to get that on her. I was injured. My hands were bleeding still,” he said.

After a painful shower because of the chemical spray that had soaked his skin, Sgt Gonell said he “went to my son’s bed and gave him a hug. He was asleep still. Gave him a kiss. And I just started crying, for like five, 10 minutes. I just cried. She kept telling me it was going to be OK. I'm like, ‘No, I've got to go back to work. I’ve got to go back to work.’ I felt guilty. I still do”.

Sgt Gonell said he has struggled in the aftermath of the riot with the Republicans’ decision to block a commission to look into what happened on 6 January. Some GOP lawmakers have even compared the mob to tourists visiting the Capitol.

“I got hurt protecting them. And I would do it again if I have to. It’s my job,” Sgt Gonell said. “It’s inconceivable that they don’t even want to find out how to prevent this in the future.”

In a separate interview Sgt Gonell told CNN: “When we respond to a call, we don’t ask the person who needs the help, hey, are you Republican, Democrat, independent? We just respond and do our job to the best we can ... with the tools we have. So, when people denied that this happened, it’s insulting. It’s a betrayal.

“You got the people calling me from overseas, my friends and family responded, asking me whether I was OK or what was happening in the Capitol. They were more concerned I think than the president himself that day,” he added.