Last Updated on January 6, 2022
Victoria White, a peaceful 1/6 protestor who was “brutally beaten” by officers has filed a $1 million lawsuit against D.C. Police.
White, a mother of four and domestic abuse survivor from Minnesota, attended the Capitol protests on 1/6 where she was “brutally beaten” by members of the city’s police department, the lawsuit filed by Joseph McBride and other members of her legal team says.
“She was hit 35 times with a collapsible metal baton, and punched in the face five times as well,” White’s team confirmed in a press statement.
“To add insult to injury, she was indicted for being pushed into the tunnel entrance and for daring to put her hands up in a defensive posture while getting beaten by the police.”
White “felt deep in her gut and in her heart” that Trump “wrongfully lost the election,” but felt “compelled to go” to the Capitol when she heard about planned protests on 1/6.
“When the time came to travel to D.C., she left without reservation, intending only to have her voice heard, side-by-side with her fellow countrymen. Nothing could have prepared her for the beating she took later that day,” the statement added.
Victoria White is a political protestor who was brutally beaten by DC Police at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. She was hit 35 times with a collapsible metal baton and punched in the face five times as well. Last night, we filed suit in Washington, DC federal court on her behalf. https://t.co/gEiXBUHvVm pic.twitter.com/wctKbZIoS8
— Joseph D. McBride, Esq. (@McBrideLawNYC) January 6, 2022
The lawsuit, filed against the city’s Police Chief Robert McEntee, 7 unnamed officers involved in White’s beating at the Capitol, including one known as “Officer Whiteshirt,” named for the difference in uniform suggesting he was involved in a leadership capacity.
The District of Columbia itself is also named, alleges that “the Defendants present on the scene knew that the Plaintiff could not retreat from their repeated assault and battery upon her because of the crush of the crowd behind her outside of the arched tunnel entrance.”
“At one point Plaintiff was able to break free… but the Defendants present on the scene grabbed her and pulled her back into the arched tunnel entrance, prevented her escape, and held her captive while continuing to physically beat, batter, and assault the plaintiff,” it continues.
As per @julie_kelly2, Victoria White was violently beaten while trapped between police on 1/6, while trying to escape to safety.
Here is enlarged & enhanced footage. You can see her climbing up to breathe fresh air, as she’s pummeled in the face by unnamed Metro PD supervisor. https://t.co/xFChhGiZ2f pic.twitter.com/kQW9TMj4CW
— Darth Crypto null af (@DefNotDarth) December 25, 2021
Speaking to American Greatness’s Julie Kelly last month, White described how she encountered a “horror scene” at the Capitol, with riot police filling the tunnel with some form of chemical gas, “causing victims to vomit and pass out”:
“We were trapped. Police were pushing us out using riot shields and people outside were pushing in. I kept falling. A cop sprayed mace directly into my face.” Then, she said, she felt the first blow.
It came out of nowhere, White told me. With her back to the line of officers, White tried to stand up but repeated blows to her head by an officer in a white shirt, presumably a D.C. Metro police supervisor, prevented her from regaining her footing.
“Because of my history, I started having flashbacks,” White told me slowly, choking up as she recalled what happened. “I felt like I had felt all those years, the times when I would get hit.” She remained crouched down as blow after blow, first by a stick then someone’s fist, landed on the top of her head and face. At one point, she confronted the abusive officer, reminding him “he took an oath to the Constitution.” Her remarks enraged the officer; he called her a “bitch” and continued the pummeling.
White, who was indicted on April 8 last year for alleged unlawful entry to the Capitol, among other charges, did not even want to enter the tunnel entrance, and was instead actually pushed by the crowd into the Western Terrace’s ‘Tunnel’ entrance, the statement notes.
“Before her beating, Victoria is seen yelling at the crowd NOT to storm the Capitol. She even pulled a protestor away from the Capitol building who was breaking a window. This is demonstrative of the fact that she was a non-violent protestor on January 6th.”
The statement confirmed that White’s legal team will file an amended complaint soon with a dollar amount “significantly higher” than the ask of 1 million dollars. “Nothing will ever right the wrong committed against Ms. White, but making sure that she is compensated for the egregious injuries that she suffered on January 6, 2021, is certainly a start.”
