Minnesota Woman Beaten by Police in US Capitol Tunnel Pleads Guilty to One Jan. 6 Felony

Victoria C. White accepts plea on count of civil disorder and aiding and abetting

Victoria White is jostled and spun around by police in the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Metropolitan Police Department/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Victoria C. White, the Minnesota woman who was struck in the head, face, and neck nearly 40 times by Metropolitan Police Department officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty on Aug. 17 to a felony civil disorder and aiding and abetting count as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors.

Ms. White, 41, of Rochester, Minnesota, had been facing a Sept. 14 trial before Judge John D. Bates in U.S. District Court in Washington, on four criminal counts lodged in a superseding indictment on Jan. 6, 2022.

Ms. White will be sentenced on Nov. 20 in Washington. Under federal sentencing guidelines outlined in her plea agreement, Ms. White faces zero to six months in jail and a fine ranging from $2,000 to $20,000.

According to the statement of offense signed by Ms. White and federal prosecutors, she made her way to the Lower West Terrace tunnel at about 3:45 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.

Jan. 6 protester Victoria White flinches in fear in the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the U.S. Capitol while a bystander yells at police, "You're going to kill her!" (Metropolitan Police Department/Screenshot via The Epoch Times.

Near the tunnel entrance, Ms. White “helped hoist up another rioter,” the document stated. “This rioter then made his way to the tunnel entrance and proceeded to assault the MPD officers by swinging from the top of the entrance and kicking the officers. White encouraged the others to push forward.”

Ms. White was charged with civil disorder and aiding and abetting, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. She previously pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Ms. White had been scheduled to accept a plea deal in February 2023 but decided against it after visiting with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill. “I honestly never wanted to take it in the first place,” she told The Epoch Times on Feb. 8.

The statement of offense made almost no mention of the brutal beating Ms. White suffered at the hands of MPD Commander Jason Bagshaw and other officers inside the tunnel. The beating was documented on CCTV security video and later on MPD bodycam footage obtained by The Epoch Times.

Ms. White was pepper-sprayed twice, suffered at least 30 blows from police batons, received seven punches to the face, head, and neck, and was twice grabbed by the hair at the back of her head and shaken. Her jeans had been partially pulled down by the time police led her from the tunnel and detained her.

A man in the north corner of the tunnel tried to intervene to protect Ms. White, bodycam video shows.

‘You’re Going to Kill Her’

At 4:09 p.m., the man said, “No, no, no, please! Please don’t beat her,” according to the video. Two minutes later, as police shouted at him to “move it, keep walking!” the man replied, “No! You’re going to kill her!”

Before she watched the security video and bodycam footage, Ms. White said, she thought she had been struck only a few times. She said she was shocked to see the number of blows aimed at her.

“God allowed me to black out for a reason,” Ms. White told The Epoch Times in March. “I honestly thought one or two officers beating me from the other publicly released footage was horrific, but it looks like four or more had beaten me.

“To make matters worse is that all this footage I’m seeing for the very first time wasn’t shown to me by any attorney,” Ms. White said. “The last two bodycams were exculpatory, as I’m sure this is.”

Victoria White with her daughters at their home in Rochester, Minn. Otabius Williams/The Epoch Times

Ms. White’s criminal trial would have almost certainly featured the videos of her beating, but the plea agreement means that evidence won’t get a wide public viewing or be entered as evidence in court.

Her plea paperwork does not mention her role in trying to prevent vandalism to a Capitol window just north of the tunnel. Ms. White helped pull a rioter down who was bashing the glass with a club.

On Jan. 5, 2022, Ms. White filed a civil suit against the Metropolitan Police Department and seven of its officers, charging excessive use of force, assault, battery, infliction of emotional distress, and violations of due process.

Her attorney at the time, Joseph McBride, told The Epoch Times Ms. White would seek a “significantly higher” award than the $1 million opening amount.

In November 2022, with her criminal case pending, Ms. White asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to dismiss the civil suit without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled at any time. That motion was granted.