WASHINGTON — A Mississippi man who was previously barred from a federal courtroom for harassing witnesses during the trial of a Jan. 6 defendant was arrested Wednesday on multiple charges for his own alleged role in the riot.
Thomas Eugene Tatum was taken into custody in Oxford, Mississippi, on an arrest warrant for one felony count of civil disorder and four misdemeanors.
Tatum has been a longtime participant in a nightly vigil held near the D.C. Jail in support of Jan. 6 defendants and has been open on social media about his own presence at the Capitol that day. Tatum was also a regular attendee at Jan. 6 hearings, including the trial of Kyle Fitzsimons, of Maine, from which he was barred, and the trial of Brian Mock, of Minnesota, during which he served as a defense witness.
According to charging documents, video recorded by Tatum on Jan. 6 shows him repeatedly berating and taunting police officers as the police line on the Lower West Plaza collapsed before overwhelming numbers of supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“Ya’ll surrounded now, padnah,” Tatum allegedly can be heard saying to an officer who ordered him to move back. “I rebuke you in the name Jesus… your little pepper gas got no effect on me.”
As the police line continued to move backward, investigators said Tatum can be heard shouting, “Retreat!” repeatedly and calling the withdrawal a “walk of shame.”
Investigators said Tatum also castigated other rioters not to run away, but rather to “take their helmets” and “take their heads!”
“They’re scared as s*** right now,” Tatum allegedly said about the retreating police, before urging other rioters to, “Use their batons, get their batons, use their weapons against them, use their batons!”
Throughout his presence on the west side of the Capitol, investigators said Tatum can consistently be seen placing himself at the front of the mob that was facing off with police. In charging documents, investigators said Tatum can be seen pursuing police while holding a flagpole extended – although they noted bodyworn camera does not show the flagpole making contact with officers.
Tatum eventually joined the mob that was attempting to force its way past police in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, and can be seen on video near the site where another Trump supporter, 34-year-old Rosanne Boyland, collapsed. Efforts to resuscitate Boyland were not successful. The D.C. Medical Examiner determined Boyland died of acute amphetamine intoxication.
Tatum was expected to make an initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge in Mississippi. No preliminary hearing in D.C. was yet scheduled.
In January, Tatum filed a pro se lawsuit in D.C. District Court claiming his civil rights had been violated on Jan. 6 by, variously, President Joe Biden, numerous members of the DC and Capitol police, another Jan. 6 defendant named Ray Epps, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight chairman Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA). Court records show none of the defendants were ever properly served and Tatum was ordered to respond by April 30 why the court should grant him an extension to do so. No response from Tatum to that order was ever filed.
In the 41 months since the attack on the U.S. Capitol, more than 1,400 people have been charged with crimes ranging from entering a restricted area to seditious conspiracy. More than 1,000 defendants have now pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.