WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Saturday will mark three years since the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks at the U.S. Capitol Complex in Washington D.C.
Insurrectionists stormed the Capitol following former President Donald Trump's 2020 election fraud claims.
The U.S. Justice Department believes more than 2,000 people were involved with the attack. Those already charged are facing assault or related offences.
FOX43's Tyler Hatfield sat down with former D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone to learn about his experience on the ground that day.
Fanone also shared his body camera footage to document the violence he ultimately succumbed to.
“It was nothing I have ever seen as a police officer," said Fanone.
Fanone’s body camera footage shows him trying to push back rioters from entering the lower West Terrace Tunnel in the Capitol.
"The fighting was intense, it was close quarters combat,” said Fanone. "There were only about 40 of us in that tunnel, holding off what turned out to be an onslaught of thousands upon thousands of rioters who were trying to make their way into the Capitol.”
Fanone said he was met on the Capitol steps by rioters. He said he was then pulled out into the crowd and attacked.
"I was beaten, and I was struck multiple times with a taser device,” said Fanone. "My day ended at Washington Hospital Center in a hospital bed.”
Fanone said he suffered from a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury that day. He said he came closer to dying that day then he ever had as a police officer.
Three years later, Fanone still feels the public doesn’t understand what happened at the Capitol.
"What’s most difficult is the aftermath, and the fact, again, I'm still here, still having to give interviews, to educate the public as to the reality and significance of the violence that occurred that day," said Fanone. "It was not a tourist day, it was not a normal day, it was incredibly violent, and a lot of police officers got hurt.”