WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice released new footage Friday showing a New Jersey man verbally assaulting and then punching a D.C. Police officer during the Capitol riot on January 6.
The videos were previously described in charging documents filed in January against Scott Fairlamb, of Sussex, New Jersey. Fairlamb faces multiple charges in connection with the riot, including assaulting a federal officer.
On Friday, following a federal judge’s ruling, the Justice Department released four new videos connected to the case. In the videos, a man identified by federal prosecutors as Fairlamb can be heard screaming, “Are you an American?” and, “You have no idea what the [expletive] you’re doing!” at D.C. Police officers moving through the crowd to respond to the Capitol. He can then be seen shoving an MPD officer before punching him in the face. The MPD officer is wearing a riot helmet, and stumbles backward before regaining his footing and heading into the Capitol.
The response of other members of the crowd is mixed, with one man yelling for Fairlamb to “take it easy” while another responds, “No, [expletive] that! They work for us!”
The video is the latest release won by a coalition of newsrooms, including WUSA9, that has been petitioning the courts for months in an ongoing effort for more transparency in the case. Earlier this week, the coalition won the release of another series of videos showing a man identified by prosecutors as Patrick Edward McCaughey III, of Connecticut, assaulting police with a riot shield in the Capitol tunnels.
On Thursday, the coalition also secured the release of footage of a man identified by the DOJ as former Marine and NYPD officer, Thomas Webster, of New York, repeatedly assaulting police with a metal flag pole.
Fairlamb was indicted in April on 12 counts. Along with assaulting an officer, Fairlamb is accused of disorderly conduct in a restricted grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, impeding passage through the Capitol grounds and obstruction of an official proceeding. A federal judge has ordered him held without bond pending trial, finding that no combination of release conditions would be sufficient to ensure the safety of the community.
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