On Tuesday, NBC4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane reported that Thomas Sibick is set to argue for pre-trial release — and that he has also previously volunteered for "solitary" to get away from other Capitol riot defendants, with whom he has experienced conflict.
STANDBY: Hearing in high-level Jan 6 case of Thomas Sibick begins in 15 mins. Sibick will argue for release from… https://t.co/guSXRhDNtn— Scott MacFarlane (@Scott MacFarlane) 1635254040.0
A Trump supporter who traveled to D.C. from Buffalo, New York, Sibick has been accused of assaulting D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone and stealing his radio and badge, shortly after another rioter, Albuquerque Cosper Head, violently dragged Fanone into a crowd of rioters — an incident prosecutors have shown on a graphic video. Prosecutors say Sibick took the badge back home to Buffalo and buried it in his yard.
Sibick has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, not denying that he took Fanone's radio and badge but claiming that it was an "accident" and he was actually trying to pull Fanone to safety from the violent crowd.
Fanone has emerged as a key witness to the attack, testifying before Congress about what he experienced.
