Video shows former deputy-in-training fighting, dragging capitol police officers
By JEREMY FINLEY
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TENNESSEE (WSMV) — A newly released video of Ronald McAbee shows the former Williamson County deputy-in-training fighting a capitol police officer and dragging another downstairs during the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. capitol.
At the time of the riot, court records show McAbee was on medical leave by the sheriff’s office, where he was working as a correctional officer in preparation to take part in deputy training.
The video in McAbee’s case has been the latest obtained this week by News4 Investigates of Tennesseans charged in connection to the riot.
The video’s release comes after a media coalition fought in court to obtain video evidence in the cases to show the public what happened during the riot.
FBI agents described in court records that McAbee can be seen in the archway of the lower west terrace of the capitol, wearing a sheriff’s patch on his tactical vest and with the symbol of the roman numeral III surrounded by stars.
According to court records, the roman number III encircled in stars is popular among militia extremists that called themselves the “Three Percenters” referring to a myth that only three percent of American colonists took up arms against the British during the American Revolution.
According to McAbee’s criminal complaint, the “Three Percenters” believe that a small force with a just cause can overthrow the government if armed and prepared.
In-text messages also included in the court file, McAbee communicates with someone who is with him before and during the riot.
In the texts McAbee texts, “I’ve shed blood for my country. By the hands of the swamp, I will shed much more in the days to come.”
In the video, you can see that McAbee looks to be holding some kind of baton or stick as he joins in the riot.
At one point, prosecutors say he tries to drag an officer off towards the rioters.
A camera from another body camera captures him shoving and fighting with officers.
In a video from someone in the crowd, FBI agents wrote that the video shows McAbee finally grabs the officer and pulls him down the stairs into the mob.
The officer’s body camera is rolling, and McAbee can be seen pinning him down, according to prosecutors.
That officer finally gets away and scrambles back to the archway.
As other officers use pepper spray to hold back the crowd, body camera video shows McAbee returns and then begins to give chest compression to a fallen woman.
McAbee is quickly pulled off by someone else in the crowd as the woman as officers drag her into the capitol.
The video shows McAbee is then pepper sprayed and stands by the archway wall, apparently in pain.
“Don’t fight me, man! I’m not hurting anybody!” McAbee can be heard saying.
Behind him, someone in the crowd yells to the officers that the fallen woman is McAbee’s wife.
The body camera footage then shows the crowd surging towards the officers, trapping them behind shields, and McAbee is shoved against the wall.
In the video, he can be heard saying that he’s hurt and asks to pass through the officers.
At one point, he points to his sheriff’s patch and then says that he’s unable to go back out through the rioters.
It is unclear if the woman in the video was, in fact, McAbee’s wife.
But court records show his wife did advocate for his release from federal custody.
McAbee’s attorney confirmed to News4 Investigates that McAbee remains in federal custody.
A spokeswoman for the Williamson County Sheriff’s office confirmed that McAbee is no longer employed by the office. But she was unable to comment on whether he was fired or resigned.
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