A US Capitol police officer is resigning, seeking to continue recovering both “physically and mentally” from the trauma of the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021.
“It is with immense sadness that I announce my formal separation from the Department effective December 17, 2022 to continue to focus on healing, both physically and mentally, from injuries I sustained in the line of duty on January 6, 2021," US Capitol police sergeant Aquilino Gonell wrote in a letter to his superiors shared with NBC News.
"After speaking with my orthopedic doctor, my mental health providers, and my family, I think it’s in my best interest to take time off away from the daily reminders that keep re-triggering my trauma," he added.
The sergeant was injured in the hands, shoulder, calf and foot in the chaos of January 6.
Mr Gonell compared the experience of being at the Capitol that day to his experience in Iraq with the US Army during testimony before Congress last summer.
"On January 6, for the first time, I was more afraid working at the Capitol than during my entire Army deployment to Iraq,” he said in prepared remarks. “In Iraq, we expected armed violence, because we were in a war zone. But nothing in my experience in the Army, or as a law enforcement officer, prepared me for what we confronted on Jan. 6.”
He told legislators how he was punched, pushed, kicked, shoved, sprayed with chemical irritants, and “blinded with eye-damaging lasers,” injuries that required multiple surgeries and a six-month medical leave.
"For most people, Jan. 6 happened for a few hours that day. But for those of us who were in the thick of it, it has not ended," he added in his testimony, at one point wiping his teary eyes. "That day continues to be a constant trauma for us literally every day, whether because of our physical or emotional injuries, or both."
Multiple Washington police officers have experienced severe injuries and even death from the attack on the Capitol.
Howard Liebengood killed himself after the insurrection in what the Justice Department declared was a duty-related death, and DC police officer Jeffrey Smith also died by suicide as a result of January 6, according to the DC Police and Firefighters Retirement and Relief Board.
Brian Sicknick, another Capitol police officer, died a day after collapsing during the January 6, during which he was sprayed with an unknown chemical irritant.
Two other officers, whose families have chosen to keep their identities anonymous, also killed themselves after January 6, the Washington Post reports.
Washington police officers and their families have accused the GOP of paying lip-service to their sacrifice that day, while refusing to acknowledge their part in the election lies that fueled January 6.
At a ceremony earlier this month, family members of Sicknick, who received a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor for his service, refused to shake hands with Republican leadership who presented the family with the award during a formal ceremony.
“They’re just two faced,” Sicknick’s mother Gladys Sicknick told CNN after the event. “I’m just tired of them standing there and saying how wonderful the Capitol police is, and then they turn around and … go down to Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring ... It just hurts.”
If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
