Sentencing The Insurrectionists: The Badge Thief

A Trumpist thug who stole the badge and radio from Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone during the January 6 violent insurrection was sentenced to four years and two months in prison for his role. While Officer Fanone was being pulled down the Capitol steps, Thomas Sibick of Buffalo reached in and ripped off his badge and radio, rebuffing some in the crowd trying to help Fanone. From the Washington Post article:

"Sibick was part of the mob that formed on the Capitol’s West Terrace, trying to push past a line of police officers guarding that entrance to the building. He got hold of a police riot shield passed through the crowd and posed for a photo with it. He stepped back to clear tear gas out of his eyes just as Fanone was pulled out of the police line and down the Capitol steps.

'In an act of cowardice, [he] stripped me of my badge, the emblem of my duty and what I had dedicated my life to for the past 20 years,' Fanone said in court. 'My radio was my lifeline; it was all I had in those moments to call for help. It was taken from me to be used as a trophy.'

Sibick denied that he kept the badge and radio as prizes, but he did not offer an alternative explanation. Nor did he explain why he came to D.C. at all, saying only that he was inspired by Trump’s Dec. 19 tweet that the “Stop the Steal” rally would 'be wild'......"  (our emphasis)

Presiding Judge Amy Berman Jackson wasn't buying multiple excuses offered by Sibick in attempts to make his offenses seem less than they were, saying:

“'This was a deliberate act,' she said. 'The videos just don’t show a person who is … wild and out of control.' Other people in the crowd, she noted, were 'horrified' by the attack on Fanone and yelled for the assaulters to stop; Sibick did not." (our emphasis)

Thus far the individual whose call to violence at the Capitol on January 6 Sibick answered hasn't been held accountable for his instigation and fomenting of the attack on our democracy. His time is coming.

Please visit the Department of Justice / FBI website to see if you can identify any of the at-large insurrectionists, and help cleanse the country of their stain by putting them behind bars.

(photo: Sibick on January 6. DOJ photo)