China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Capitol rioters face consequences
Lawyer, CEO lose jobs for participating while police forces check if officers were at Jan 6 DC uprising
Rioters who stormed the US Capitol in Washington are being pursued and arrested by law enforcement and some have faced immediate consequences, such as losing their jobs.
More than 100 people have been arrested and charged in connection with the storming of the building on Jan 6.
Texas company Goosehead Insurance announced on its Twitter account on Jan 7 that Paul Davis, an associate general counsel, was no longer employed by Goosehead the day after he posted videos of himself inside the Capitol.
Marketing company Navistar in Maryland terminated an employee after he was photographed wearing his company identification in the breached building. Even a CEO was fired . Brad Rukstales of Congensia, a marketing company in suburban Chicago, was arrested for unlawful entry and fired on Jan 7. Senior Vice-President Joel Schiltz. who replaced Rukstales, said in a statement that “this decision was made because Rukstales’ actions were inconsistent with the core values of Cogensia”.
Rukstales posted a statement on his Twitter account saying that “my decision to enter the Capitol was wrong and I am deeply regretful to have done so. Without qualification and as a peaceful and law-abiding citizen, I condemn the violence and destruction that took place in Washington.”
One elected official chose to quit in the aftermath. Derrick Evans, recently elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in November, resigned on Jan 9. He was charged with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority and for violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Evans filmed himself and said on the video, “We’re in! We’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”
“I take full responsibility for my actions, and deeply regret any hurt, pain or embarrassment I may have caused my family, friends, constituents and fellow West Virginians,” he said in a statement.
An Air Force Academy graduate and combat veteran has been fired after he admitted that he was one of the rioters carrying zip-tie handcuffs on the Senate floor.
Texas-based Hillwood Airways told USA Today that retired lieutenant colonel Larry Brock Jr had been fired following a report in the New Yorker in which he told the magazine that he was the man in the photos and videos seen standing in the Senate chamber holding zip ties. He told the New Yorker that he found them on the floor.
“I wish I had not picked those up,” he told the magazine.
Saccone, an adjunct professor at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, resigned after the college reviewed a video he posted on Facebook from the riot scene. “As a result of that investigation, Dr Saccone has submitted and we have accepted his letter of resignation, effective immediately,” the college said in a statement.
Police departments across the country are also investigating if any of their officers took part in the riot, according to The Washington Post.
At least two Capitol Police officers have been suspended, and more than a dozen others are under investigation for suspected involvement with or inappropriate support for the storming of the building, according to two congressional officials briefed on the developments, the Post reported Monday.
Two Seattle police officers were placed on leave pending an investigation into whether they committed any criminal acts while in Washington during the riots at the Capitol. The Oakland, California, police department is investigating officers who posted on social media that they liked or expressed support for the riot.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, who heads the Major Cities Chiefs Association, told the Post that the distinction between acceptable and fireable behavior should be clear in most cases.
“If you’re openly liking and supporting comments (conveying) support for people who had nooses or were screaming about finding the vice-president of the United States and harming him and who were caught with Molotov cocktails — you’ll likely receive severe sanctions,” he was quoted by the Post.
Some small businesses are also facing backlash related to the rioting.
Jenny Cudd, a flower shop owner and former mayoral candidate in Midland, Texas, posted a video on her Facebook account boasting about breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
Her flower shop was deluged with one-star reviews online the next day, The Associated Press reported. Yelp reported that more than 20 other small businesses received one-star reviews after the riot.
On Jan 7, Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, called on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the FBI to put people suspected of domestic terrorism on a no-fly list.
Flight attendants are also calling on the TSA and airlines to ensure that the rioters who stormed the Capitol can’t fly back to Washington later this month for the inauguration of PresidentJoe Biden, according to Forbes.
“We support the swiftest action with clear consequences and clear rules for keeping these people off planes,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, a union representing 50,000 flight attendants from 17 airlines.