WASHINGTON — The New York Proud Boy who used a riot shield to smash in a window at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 testified Wednesday that police inflamed him and others with their efforts to repel the mob on the west side of the building.
Pezzola said Tuesday he was taking the stand to “take responsibility for my actions on Jan. 6.” The flooring contractor and Marine Corps veteran was one of five Proud Boys accused of plotting to incite the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and is individually charged with robbery for the riot shield.
On Wednesday, however, Pezzola spent much of his time on the stand laying out his belief that police’s use of less-lethal munitions on the crowd had caused him to revert to his military training and “run toward the danger.”
Pezzola said when he and other Proud Boys reached the west side of the Capitol he was little more than a “glorified spectator” who continued moving toward the front lines because he had what he described as “car crash syndrome.”
“Why I moved over there was basically out of curiosity,” he said.
By the time Pezzola reached the area, the crowd had torn down barricades and forced officers to retreat from multiple police lines. A small number of officers with less-lethal munitions had stationed themselves on the Lower West Terrace, which is used as the Inaugural Stage. From that position, officers fired pepper balls and other munitions into the crowd. One of those rounds struck an Alabama man named Joshua Black in the cheek, leaving a bloody wound.
“My first thought was disbelief that this kind of force was being used on unarmed crowds just pushing against riot shields,” Pezzola said. “After Mr. Black was shot in the head, it turned into a dire situation where it became quite deadly.”
Black was one of a small number of rioters who made it to the floor of the Senate after the building was breached. He was convicted in January of multiple felony charges for carrying a knife into the Capitol.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutors elicited from a former police officer called as a witness by Pezzola’s attorney, Steven Metcalf, that police radio chatter around when Black was shot documented how the situation on the west side of the Capitol had become “unstable” as rioters began throwing poles and other objects at police.
Pezzola said he approached police to tell them they shouldn't be striking people in the face and to pull a member of the crowd away "so the situation wouldn't be re-escalated" when less-lethal munitions began being deployed around him. He said he became panicked and began to rely on his training as an infantryman in the Marines and a long-time boxer to look for cover.
“It’s hard to describe. It’s a surreal moment,” he said. “I was in the military. I didn’t get to go to war, I was injured before I got to. But in my mind, this was what combat would be like. Being shot at by an enemy from a machinegun nest."
Wanting to avoid the rubber bullets which had begun being deployed as the situation in the area further deteriorated, Pezzola said he began trying to take an officer’s shield out of his hands.
“Out of my training, I grabbed the first thing I could see to protect myself,” Pezzola said.
“And what was that?” Metcalf asked.
“That was Officer [Marc] Ode’s shield,” Pezzola responded. “I grabbed it and pulled on it, trying to gain possession.”
Pezzola said he never intended to rob Ode of the shield, only to use it to defend himself temporarily. While he was attempting to take the shield, however, Pezzola said he fell backward onto the ground and an unidentified “man in black” was the one who actually first took possession of it.
“Why didn’t you just turn around and walk away?” Metcalf asked.
“In the military and Marine Corps, you don’t ever turn around and run away,” Pezzola said. “You’re conditioned not to think about the flight response. You’re conditioned to run toward the danger. To neutralize the danger.”
Pezzola continued forward, with the shield, despite testifying that he continued to see less-lethal munitions and flashbangs deployed against the crowd. He ultimately wound up at the entrance to the Senate Wing, where he used the shield to smash in a window alongside another rioter and create the first breach of the building. Why did he do that, Metcalf asked?
“Just more of getting caught up in the chaos, confusion, mayhem of that day,” Pezzola said. “It was stupid. It’s not anything I’m proud of. It happened. What can I say?”
Once inside, Pezzola smoked what he described as a “victory cigar” and recorded a video of himself saying, “I knew we could take this motherf***er if we just tried hard enough.” On the stand Wednesday, Pezzola said he viewed it as a historic moment deserving of comment.
"No matter how you look at it, it was going to be a historic day,” Pezzola said. “I thought it would be cool if I said something profound."
Pezzola, according to his testimony, then “wandered” around the building for a time – appearing at one point in the Ohio Clock Corridor near the entrance to the Senate Chamber – before leaving the building. At some point he handed the shield over to officers inside.
Though his testimony Wednesday focused heavily on the minutes between taking possession of the shield and smashing in the window, Pezzola also denied repeatedly participating in any conspiracy with other Proud Boys. He described himself as a relatively new member of the Proud Boys, having only been in the group for roughly a month, who had gotten separated from the few other people he knew in the chaos of the day. Asked directly if any of his co-defendants had ordered him to break the window at the Capitol, Pezzola said no.
“I was completely on my own,” he said.
Pezzola’s testimony was set to continue Wednesday, and was expected to cover a false statement he made while in custody claiming, incorrectly, that his co-defendant Joe Biggs had been carrying a firearm on Jan. 6. Biggs’ attorneys said he did not intend to take the stand himself.
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