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I have filed a motion to compel the government to produce all materials related to undercover police at the Capitol on January 6, and to produce missing police body camera recordings. This motion presents new evidence of illicit behavior by undercover police at the Capitol.
Police bodycams are important to January 6 defenses because they reveal real-time candid assessments.
My motion includes an exhibit of Officer Joseph Young’s recording that captures Officer Pittmon assessing that police had “[profanity redacted for FR] all the way up.” [ransomnote: the following video available at linked webpage and contains profanity in the audio track]
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Another exhibit features footage from Officer Matthew Fleming that shows officers being ordered by their supervisors to let protestors have access to the west terrace door. Afterwards, an officer in the unit says, “I can’t believe they let them in.” [ransomnote: the following video available at linked webpage and contains profanity in the audio and subtitles]
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Last November I filed a motion pointing out undercover police urged J6 protestors to advance up the steps to the Capitol. The government finally produced two of Leiva’s recordings in April.
The footage is completely black for 5 minutes as Leiva and Callahan walked up the steps.
The footage is completely black for 5 minutes as Leiva and Callahan walked up the steps.
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Not only did Officer Tomasula urge protestors to advance up the steps to the Capitol, he also infiltrated the Proud Boys in December 2020, used department funds to buy Proud Boys gear, and passed intel to the FBI. The government is hiding 90 fully redacted pages of text messages between Tomasula and the Proud Boys.
A recently disclosed MPD internal investigation revealed that Detective Ricardo Leiva observed people breaking glass windows at the Capitol, and ran up to them saying, “hey what’s up man, you’re doing an amazing job, awesome awesome awesome.”
Leiva claims he recorded this, but the recording has not been produced in discovery.
Detective Callahan was also recording on J6, but MPD claims he did not have a recording device with him on J6, even though video clearly shows him holding a cell phone. No footage has been produced for Callahan.
Undercover officer Ryan Roe noted that he was using a Canon XA40 to film on January 6. Thanks to a viral thread that shows a man holding the same model of camera, I have been able to identify Roe in the crowd.
By synchronizing sealed footage from @Twinity5’s January 7, 2021 viral thread, I discovered that undercover officer Ryan Roe thanked #FenceCutterBulwark as he removed fencing. “Appreciate it brother,” said Roe, as Twinity5 captured this frame.
There was also a team of undercover officers positioned above the west front lines, filming the action below. These officers would go into the Capitol, and at the end of the day they filmed curfew arrests. However, the government has not produced everything they recorded. Several new bodycam exhibits from my filing show these officers.
Undercover police also filmed curfew arrests outside hotels on the night of January 6. The government has designated all video recorded by undercover officers as “sensitive” to prevent public release, but bodycam footage showing the same arrest scene is not considered sensitive.
[ransomnote: video below available at link]
My motion raises several questions about bodycam footage, including whether footage has been altered to remove inconvenient evidence. A recording from Neil McAllister strangely went blank (twice) as he beat protestors. This exhibit shows him throwing punches even after a man tells him he is down and no longer resisting. McAllister's bodycam supposedly turned off for 20 seconds as these punches were thrown.
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[ransomnote: video below available at link. gov blacked out key scenes of beatings]
The second gap in McAllister’s footage occurred in the tunnel as he and Lt. Bagshaw were beating the defenseless Victoria White in the head.
For both gaps, McAllister’s camera did not beep (as normal) when the recording resumed less than a minute later.
For both gaps, McAllister’s camera did not beep (as normal) when the recording resumed less than a minute later.
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[ransomnote: video below available at link. gov blacked out key scenes of a woman being beaten]
