Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards on Thursday equated the riots on Jan. 6, 2021, to a “war scene,” describing slipping in other people’s blood and being in hand-to-hand combat for hours during testimony to the House select committee investigating the insurrection.
“I remember my breath catching in my throat because what I saw was just a war scene. It was something like I’d seen out of the movies,” she added.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding, they were throwing up … I was slipping in people’s blood. I was catching people as they fell. It was carnage, it was chaos,” Edwards testified to the committee.
“I’m not combat trained, and that day, it was just hours of hand-to-hand combat, hours of dealing with things that were way beyond any law enforcement officer has ever trained for,” Edwards continued. “I just remember that moment of stepping behind the line and seeing the absolute war zone that the West Front had become.”
Edwards was one of two main witnesses who appeared in the hearing room on Thursday night for the first public hearing for the select committee.
Her testimony, paired with newly released video footage, depicted the graphic violence and mayhem that engulfed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as pro-Trump rioters stormed the complex to try and stop the certification of the 2020 election results.
Edwards suffered a concussion while on duty at the Capitol on Jan. 6. She is believed to have been the first Capitol officer who was injured that day.