(NEXSTAR) – A Washington, D.C. police officer crushed in a doorway by a mob of angry rioters at the U.S. Capitol said he wouldn’t hesitate to do it all over again.
“If it wasn’t my job I would have done that for free,” 32-year-old Officer Daniel Hodges told reporters. “It was absolutely my pleasure to crush a white nationalist insurrection and I’m glad I was in a position to help. We’ll do it as many times as it takes.”
Video from that day shows Hodges, his mouth bloodied, crying out as he is pinned between a sliding door and the doorframe.
“At that point that’s where I was to support the defense,” Hodges recalled while speaking to CNN. “I ended up getting pinned there by the crowd, there was a guy ripping my mask off and he was able to rip away my baton and beat me with it.”
Hodges remembered being attacked by a man who was “practically foaming at the mouth.” He said he finally managed to escape the situation after another officer cleared some space behind him and pulled him to the rear.
Hodges said he had a headache for a week after the riot and may have had a concussion.
Fellow officers have since told similar, harrowing accounts from that day.
Veteran officer Mike Fanone, a father of four, recalled the moment after he was knocked to the ground and Tasered multiple times in the back of the neck.
Fanone told CNN he was aware of rioters taking gear off his body – including his ammunition, police radio and even his badge – when “some guys started getting a hold of my gun and they were screaming out ‘Kill him with his own gun’.”
Fanone said he thought about using deadly force but knew many in the crowd were armed, and firing his gun would give them an excuse to start shooting.
“So, the other option I thought of was to try to appeal to somebody’s humanity. And I just remember yelling out that I have kids. And it seemed to work,” he remembered.
A group of people protected him from further violence until help could arrive.
On Friday, the FBI announced that they are looking for the suspect in the assault on Officer Hodges.
