Capitol Hill Police Officer Harry Dunn spoke to a congressional panel investigating the January 6 insurrection riots about when he was threatened and surrounded by rioters. The deplorable rioters at some moments called him the N-word along with other racial insults.

“No one had ever, ever called me a n****r while wearing the uniform of a Capitol police officer,” Dunn said.

President Donald Trump supporters also targeted other Capitol Hill officers of color.

“One officer told me he had never in his entire 40 years life being called a n****r to his face and that streak ended on January 6. Yet another Black officer later told me he had been confronted by insurrectionists in the Capitol who told him, ‘Put your gun down, and we’ll show you what kind of n****r you really are.'”

Officer Dunn described himself sobbing after the incident occurred. He was in disbelief that this can still happen in America. He sat on a bench and recalled yelling, ‘How the f*ck can something like this happen? Is this America?'” becoming very emotional.

“I know so many other officers continue to hurt both physically and emotionally,” he stated. “What we went through that day was traumatic.”

After Dunn finished his testimony, Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone spoke about being tased by the rioters and suffered a mild heart attack along with a concussion. D.C. Officer Daniel Hodges followed after.

Officer Daniel Hodges referred to the rioters as “terrorists” throughout his testimony. He said that he remembered them carrying thin Blue Line flags. Although the flag represents the support of law enforcement, the rioters were attacking officers instead. According to Hodges, some terrorizers wore masks with Trump’s face while one was spotted wearing a QAnon hoodie.

Officer Harry Dunn spoke again during the hearing, notably saying, “While the attack was happening, I wasn’t able to process it as a racial attack,” today, he is “hurt just reading it now and just thinking about it.”

The Connecticut man responsible for assaulting a police officer by crushing him in a doorway during the domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol has been arrested. 

Police arrested Patrick Edward McCaughey III, 23, of Ridgefield on charges after he assaulted Capitol Police Officer Daniel Hodges on Jan. 6. During the Trump-influenced domestic terrorist attack, McCaughey told Hodges to “just go home” and “come on man, you are going to get squished,” pinning the officer between a riot shield Hodges was holding and the doors, a criminal complaint states, CNBC reports.

Another rioter came in and “began violently ripping off Officer Hodges’ gas mask, exposing Officer Hodges bloodied mouth,” said the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Video footage, that has now be uploaded to YouTube, shows the gruesome sight. Hodges can be heard screaming in pain as Trump supporters pushed against him. 

McCaughey left the Capitol, and video footage captured him assaulting other police officers with the riot shield. While Hodges came out of the incident only wounded, another officer trying to defend the Capitol was beaten and killed by rioters later that day. Hodges said he would have taken on the responsibility without pay. “If it wasn’t my job, I would have done that for free.” He continued: “It was absolutely my pleasure to crush a white nationalist insurrection, and we’ll do it as many times as it takes,” Hodges said.

A person called and dropped a tip-off to police about McCaughey, which helped FBI agents in White Plains, New York identify and arrest him on Tuesday. In a statement, acting District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said, “The vicious attack on Officer Hodges was abhorrent and quintessentially un-American.”

“It is my pledge that anyone involved in violent attacks on law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. McCaughey’s alleged actions were an assault on Officer Hodges, the Capitol, and the rule of law itself,” he said.