A US Capitol Police officer bounded up the stairs of the Capitol building, a growing mob of insurrectionists behind him. Using himself as “bait,” he lured the rioters away from the entrance to the Senate chambers, where lawmakers were still debating an objection to Arizona’s Electoral College vote count.
That man is Officer Eugene Goodman. Footage from Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol shows him leading the mob of Trump supporters in the opposite direction of the Senate chambers after he noticed it was unguarded.
CNN producer Kristin Wilson identified Goodman through US Capitol Police sources. The agency has not publicly identified Goodman to CNN or other outlets.
Footage from Wednesday captured by Huffington Post reporter Igor Bobic shows Goodman, the sole officer among the mob, trying to beat the rioters back several times as he radios other officers, but they continue to trail Goodman up the stairs.
See Capitol police officer luring rioters away 02:09
At one point, Goodman arrives at a landing and looks to a hallway to his left. A door in that hallway led to the Senate chambers, Wilson wrote in a tweet. Goodman then leads the rioters to the right, away from the Senate chambers — and their “targets,” Wilson said.
Goodman leads them into a larger hall, and backup officers arrive — still outnumbered by rioters. Bobic stopped recording and was evacuated shortly afterward, he said.
Bobic said Goodman herded the rioters away from the Senate Chambers at 2:14 p.m. Senators were alerted that protesters had breached the Capitol building just one minute earlier, according to CNN’s timeline of events from Wednesday’s riot. Vice President Mike Pence wouldn’t be evacuated from the Senate until 2:30 p.m.
The man in a hoodie seen chasing Goodman up the stairs, Doug Jensen, was arrested over the weekend for breaking into the Capitol and faces five federal charges — of unlawfully entering the Capitol, disrupting government business, violent entry, parading in a Capitol building and blocking law enforcement during the riot.
Political figures have called on Goodman to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor or the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor for protecting members of Congress.
CNN has reached out to US Capitol Police for comment on Goodman’s actions and is waiting to hear back.
