Two people from Connecticut were among those arrested Wednesday a mob takeover of the U.S. Capitol during the Electoral College certification process in the Senate.
Victoria Bergeson, 40 and Mauricio Mendez, 40, were arrested on charges of Curfew Violation and Unlawful entry. They are from Groton.
The chief of the U.S. Capitol Police says the violent mob that stormed the building wielded metal pipes, chemical irritants and other weapons against law enforcement.
Steven Sund issued a statement Thursday saying the rioting protesters “actively attacked” police officers and “were determined to enter into the Capitol building by causing great damage.”
A Capitol Police officer shot and killed one person, who Sund identified as Ashli Babbitt. Sund did not identify the officer but said they would be placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Sund defended his agency’s response from criticism that officers did not stop the incursion. He says his agency “had a robust plan” for what he anticipated would be peaceful protests, but what occurred Wednesday was “criminal riotous behavior.”
He said more than 50 Capitol and Washington police officers were injured and several Capitol Police officers were hospitalized with serious injuries.
FOX 61 spoke with the attorney representing a Groton woman who was arrested in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night. Victoria Bergeson, 40, and her boyfriend, Maurcio Mendez, 40, both of Groton were both arrested by police on trespassing and curfew violation charges. Bergeson’s Washington-based attorney, Samuel Bogash, tells FOX 61 that Bergeson did attend the Trump rally in Washington but never entered the Capitol building nor was she aware she violated the city’s 6p curfew when she was taken into custody.
Bergeson’s attorney says the couple flew to Washington to attend the Trump rally and do some sightseeing. Bogash says that Bergeson and Mendez felt they needed a break from the COVID pandemic and had been to Washington numerous times.
Bergeson’s attorney tells FOX 61 his client was not wearing any Trump/MAGA related clothing while in Washington. He said they never went inside the Capitol nor even up on the steps but he does say she was on Capitol property when she was taken into custody in an area under the authority of the U.S. Capitol Police department. Bergeson and Mendez spent Wednesday night in the Washington Metropolitan Police detention facility and were arraigned Thursday morning by video link. Authorities confiscated Bergeson’s cell phone and her attorney says he is hopeful they’ll examine the photos which he says will prove their version of events.
According to Bergeson’s attorney, his client is a registered nurse who has since been fired from her job due to her arrest in Washington. He did not know who her employer was. He also said that Bergeson is distressed and feels her privacy has been invaded after her address was made public in court documents, which has led to some incidents of people driving by her home and blowing car horns. Both Bergeson and Mendez are due back in Washington for a status hearing in June.