“I was slipping into people’s blood” – Mother Jones
United States Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards testifies as the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol holds its first public hearing.Andrew Harnik / AP
On January 6, 2021, Caroline Edwards was one of the five officers forming the first line of defense of the United States Capitol police against hundreds of advancing rioters. As the frenzied crowd pushed forward against the metal bicycle racks that separated them from the police, the 5-foot-4 Edwards was knocked to the ground, suffering a traumatic brain injury when her head collided with concrete. .
Edwards, the first officer to be wounded in the riot, was one of two live witnesses the committee on January 6 called to testify at Thursday night’s hearing. At one point, the officer watched the footage of the moment she was injured.
The video shows the moment when Officer Caroline Edwards sustained injuries outside the United States Capitol. Edwards was thrown to the ground. pic.twitter.com/uMx2uhnCNM
– Norah O’Donnell
(@NorahODonnell) June 10, 2022
Even after suffering brain trauma, Edwards continued to push back the crowd with his fellow officers. During the fights, Edwards tested, he was pepper sprinkled next to Officer Brian Sicknick, who suffered a stroke two hours after the attack on the Capitol and died the next day. The coroner of Washington, DC concluded Sicknick died of natural causes, but added that “everything that happened played a role in his condition.”
This is heartbreaking.
Upon regaining consciousness, USCP officer Edwards protected the Capitol, alongside fellow USCP officer Brian Sicknick.
Sicknick died the next day after two strokes.
“It was Officer Sicknick, with his head in his hands. He was a ghostly pale …” pic.twitter.com/VdixMVcrKM– Mike Valerio (@ValerioCNN) June 10, 2022
According to the committee of January 6, Edwards has been unable resume his previous duties as first responder due to his injuries.
Edwards’ testimony underscored the brutality of what a congressional Republican tried to obliterate as a “tourist visit. “
“I was slipping into people’s blood,” he told the committee. “I was catching people as they fell, you know, it was carnage. It was chaos. “
