Chicago Cop Charged For Entering A Senator’s Office During Capitol Riot

Well, things are still going down for those involved in the January 6 Capitol breach, and this time is a Chicago police officer who found himself behind bars for his role that day.

According to the Chicago Tribune, on Friday, Officer Karol Chwiesiuk, 29, was arrested on federal charges for his involvement in the capitol riot. He is also accused of entering a Democratic Senator’s office, which he bragged in a text to a friend, saying he’d “knocked out a commie.”

The 19-page criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington lists five misdemeanor counts, including entering a restricted building, disrupting government business, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds to impede a congressional proceeding.

The complaint also details how the officer broke into Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley’s office and took a selfie of him grinning while wearing a hoodie with the Chicago Police Department logo on it.

Prosecutors also claim that he sent texts to a friend saying, “Busy planning how to (expletive) up commies.” The text was supposedly sent two days before he traveled to Washington to partake in the Capitol riot. The day of the riot, he texted the same friend bragging about being “inside the capital lmfao.”

Apparently, the friend texted Chwiesiuk, saying he saw the news on the riot.

“Yeah I was there,” Chwiesiuk allegedly replied, adding later with a racial slur, “(Expletive) don’t snitch.”

The officer lives with his parents in Chicago and was arrested but released on bond.

His attorney, Timothy Grace, said he’d been a Chicago police officer since 2018. He has been stripped of his police powers and reassigned to desk duty. As for now, Grace doesn’t think his client will face felony charges.

Grace also said he doesn’t know if his client engaged in any form of violence that day and when a Capitol officer told him he should leave, he did.

According to his attorney, Chwiesiuk is disappointed in himself, meaning he understands this was not the way to protest, but “we still do have a First Amendment in this country.”

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown called the D.C. riots “an absolute disgrace” during a Friday news conference at City Hall.

“The fact that a Chicago police officer has been charged in that attack on American democracy makes my blood boil, makes me sick to my stomach,” Brown said. “And yes, if these allegations are true, it breaks my heart. Participating in the siege on the Capitol in any way was a betrayal of everything we stand for, the oath (and) the law.”