WASHINGTON – A man known for openly harassing police officers who testified in January 6 cases has been jailed in connection with his role in the 2021 attack on the United States Capitol.
Tommy Tatum, who also testified on behalf of a Jan. 6 defendant, was detained in Mississippi on Wednesday, according to court documents. He is charged with civil disturbance for blocking, impeding, or interfering with law enforcement personnel performing official responsibilities, which is a felony, as well as misdemeanor charges.
There was no attorney named for Tatum in the court documents.
Tatum had been a frequent presence at vigils outside the Washington jail, where several of the Jan. 6 suspects were being housed. According to NBC News, he also harassed officers testifying in the Capitol attack cases.
Last year, Tatum testified for Brian Mock, a Jan. 6 defendant who assaulted police officers and then represented himself in court. Mock was convicted and sentenced to 33 months in federal prison in February, and he is currently jailed in Minnesota, according to prison records.
Tatum was on the west front of the United States Capitol when the pro-Trump mob chased down outnumbered police officers on January 6. He eventually made his way to the lower west tunnel, where the biggest violence of the day occurred.
“Take their helmets!” Take the helmets! Take their helmets,” Tatum remarked in a video of his activities from January 6. Tatum told NBC News in 2022 that he yelled because police officers “were spraying us with that deadly gas, and in my mind, I’m thinking if they take their helmets off, maybe they’ll stop spraying.”
According to the FBI affidavit against Tatum, he “attended multiple federal trials of January 6 defendants and was included on defense witness lists for multiple trials” and the video he confirmed he recorded shows him “repeatedly berating and taunting uniformed police officers” as the police line collapsed.
“Don’t run back, just stand your ground, take a breath, and regroup,” Tatum urged in the video as officers were pursued. “They’re scared as s— right now.”
“Yes, run, b——!” We got you, motherf——! “Woo! Woo!” Tatum explained in the video.
According to the FBI, Tatum also approached a police line with a flagpole stretched forward and around officers’ chest levels; body camera footage does not show if the flagpole’s end made contact with any officers. According to the FBI, once inside the tunnel, Tatum was part of a mob that made “repeated collective efforts to surge forward” toward police officers.
Over 1,400 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack on January 6, and prosecutors have secured convictions for more than 1,000 defendants. Over 540 defendants have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from a few days to 22 years, including a Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy.