Jan. 6 Police Beating Victim Sentenced to 8 Days Jail, 90 Days Home Detention

Victoria White’s sentence was significantly less than that sought by federal prosecutors, who argued for four months in prison.
Jan. 6 Police Beating Victim Sentenced to 8 Days Jail, 90 Days Home Detention
Victoria White is spun around by Metropolitan Police Department Officer Neil McAllister while a bystander (right) shouts, "Please! Please don't beat her!" Metropolitan Police Department/Screenshot via The Epoch Times
Joseph M. Hanneman
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Victoria White, the Minnesota woman beaten by Metropolitan Police Department officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was given a modified sentence of eight days of intermittent jail time and 90 days of home detention by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates on Nov. 22.

Judge Bates originally sentenced Ms. White to 10 days in jail on Nov. 20, but reconsidered the sentence and reduced her jail time to eight days. She will serve that time over four weekends and then face 90 days of home detention.

The U.S. Department of Justice had sought up to four months in prison under a plea agreement with Ms. White, who was originally charged with four crimes in a Jan. 26, 2022, indictment.

In August, Ms. White pleaded guilty to one count of civil disorder and aiding and abetting, a felony charge that carried up to five years in prison.

Ms. White, 41, of Rochester, Minnesota, had been posting frequent commentary on her case and other Jan. 6 topics on X, but her account disappeared shortly after her hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. However, her account was back online on Nov. 22.

Prosecutors said Ms. White helped boost up a rioter at the entrance to the Lower West Terrace tunnel, where the man kicked at police.

Her case was unique because, in addition to being a Jan. 6 defendant, she was a victim of a brutal beating by Metropolitan Police Department officers inside the Lower West Terrace tunnel just after 4 p.m.

Overhead security video and MPD bodycam footage show that Ms. White suffered at least 39 blows from steel batons and fists to the head, face, and neck.

Recently released bodycam shows her being speared in the ribs with a baton, grabbed by the hair, and shoved by a hand on her neck.

In an interview for the 2022 Epoch Times documentary The Real Story of Jan. 6, Ms. White discussed the strain that Jan. 6 has put on her family.

“People’s lies about us are causing myself and other January Sixers to endure unspeakable hell,” she said. “Justice for us, it seems almost impossible.”

Ms. White said she experiences flashbacks that seem to tie her Jan. 6 beating to the years of domestic abuse from her former husband.

“I’ve had those with my ex, where I'd be awake doing something as simple as laundry, and all of a sudden, I’m there, being choked to death and beat or punched,” she said.

“This was the feeling of all that. It was like those blows, but now in the tunnel.”

In addition to losing her jacket, shoes, and cell phone in the tunnel, the video shows Ms. White had her jeans pulled down, exposing her backside, while being shoved back and forth between police officers.

Federal prosecutors identified the primary aggressor against Ms. White as MPD Cmdr. Jason Bagshaw. Video shows several other officers, including Neil McAllister, also struck Ms. White.
On Jan. 5, 2022, Ms. White filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Metropolitan Police Department and several unidentified police officers.

At the time, Ms. White’s attorney said the beating by police caused great trauma to Ms. White, who is a survivor of years of physical and verbal domestic abuse.

“Years of healing and progress were literally beaten out of her by the police on January 6th,” the attorney said in a statement.

“The scars and trauma related to past abuse were torn open again. A multitude of preexisting repetitive trauma injuries [were] aggravated to the point where she can never fully recover.”

Citing the time required to defend herself against federal criminal charges, Ms. White dropped her civil suit in November 2022.

Joseph M. Hanneman
Joseph M. Hanneman
Reporter
Joseph M. Hanneman is a former reporter for The Epoch Times who focussed on the January 6 Capitol incursion and its aftermath, as well as general Wisconsin news. In 2022, he helped to produce "The Real Story of Jan. 6," an Epoch Times documentary about the events that day. Joe has been a journalist for nearly 40 years.
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