Second officer testifies against Maine man in Capitol insurrection trial
Aug. 17—Sarah Beaver, an officer for the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police, had already been vomited on and struck by a can of bear spray when she was hit by a bow while defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Had she not been wearing a hard, nearly bulletproof helmet, federal prosecutors say, the man who threw the bow at Beaver could have seriously injured her.
"There were officers gagging, there were officers laying down, there were officers trying to help other officers ..." Beaver said. "They were throwing all kinds of stuff at us."
Beaver didn't see who had hit her. But federal prosecutors, referring to still photographs and video footage from that day, contended Wednesday at his trial in a Washington, D.C. courtroom that it was Kyle Fitzsimons, 38, from Lebanon, Maine.
Fitzsimons faces nearly a dozen charges for his violent role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was the first of five people in Maine to be charged for crimes related to Jan. 6. His charges include two counts of inflicting bodily injury on officers, and one count of using a dangerous or deadly weapon on an officer.
Prosecutors say Fitzsimons assaulted Beaver and two other officers — Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the Capitol Police, and Detective Phuson Nguyen of the Metropolitan Police Department — as well as a number of other officers holding a line that Fitzsimons charged with his fists waving.
Beaver was the second of these officers to testify, on the second day of his trial.
On Tuesday, Nguyen, who has since been promoted to sergeant, told the court that Fitzsimons had pulled off his gas mask while another demonstrator aimed what appeared to be bear spray at his face. Fitzsimons then released the mask — and when it snapped back, Nguyen dropped to the ground, choking and burning.
"In my head, I thought that was it for me," he said Tuesday.
Fitzsimons' case will be decided by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in a bench trial, since Fitzsimons waived his right to a jury.
Contreras was expected to hear from Gonell later Wednesday as well as from a local journalist in Maine who has interviewed Fitzsimons.
Fitzsimons' defense attorney, Natasha Taylor-Smith, suggested in her cross examination of Beaver Wednesday that it's difficult to tell whether Fitzsimons was responsible for throwing the bow. She pointed to other demonstrators and officers in still images from Beaver's body camera.
Hundreds of those who headed to the Capitol on Jan. 6 are now facing criminal charges. They include a handful of other Maine residents.
Glen Mitchell Simon from Minot was sentenced to eight months last week, months after pleading guilty to a charge of disorderly and disruptive conduct for using a metal bicycle rack outside the entrance to the Capitol to push away officers who were trying to prevent the mob from entering.
Nicholas Hendrix, a Gorham resident and U.S. veteran, pleaded guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor, in late June.
Jefferson resident Joshua Colgan is still awaiting trial after he pleaded not guilty in July to four misdemeanor charges.
