Texas Man Trapped in US Capitol Tunnel Stampede Arrested by FBI on Jan. 6 Charges

Philip Anderson, 28, held Rosanne Boyland's hand under large pile of bodies

Protester Philip Anderson is pulled out from under a pile of bodies at the mouth of the Lower West Terrace tunnel on Jan. 6, 2021. Metropolitan Police Department/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

A Texas man buried in a stampede when police deployed gas into the Lower West Terrace tunnel on Jan. 6, 2021, has been arrested by the FBI and charged with five crimes related to his time at the U.S. Capitol.

Philip Anderson, 28, of Mesquite, Texas, was charged in a criminal complaint with two felonies: civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding.

The charges were filed in Washington.

Mr. Anderson also faces three misdemeanors: 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.

Mr. Anderson is perhaps best known for the place where he collapsed during a stampede of protesters. He recounted grasping the hand of protester Rosanne Boyland as she lost consciousness under the “indescribable squeeze” of a pile four-to-five-bodies deep.

“You have to just lay still. You’re just air-swapping with the people that are on the ground with you,” Mr. Anderson told The Epoch Times in February 2022. “If you move even a little bit, bones are going to break in your leg, bones are going to break in your arm.

“I’m thinking, ‘I have to stay still and hope that my head’s not going to get smashed,’” he said.

Terrifying Sensation

The gas deployed in the tunnel by police at 4:20 p.m. removed the oxygen from the atmosphere, Mr. Anderson said, creating a terrifying sensation of being unable to draw a breath.

“I could feel that I was dying,” Mr. Anderson said. “I could feel it. That was the scariest part. I accepted that I was going to die. I was just praying to God at that point, ‘Just make it to where the pain stops, because I just need to go.’”

Mr. Anderson said he believes Ms. Boyland knew her time was quickly running out.

Rosanne Boyland and Philip Anderson entered the West Terrace tunnel of the U.S. Capitol at 4:18 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. A stampede started at 4:20 when police deployed gas. U.S. Capitol Police/Epoch Times Photo Illustration

“She was holding my hand and then her grip completely loosens,” Mr. Anderson recalled. “I’m pretty sure that she’s accepted at this point she’s going to die. She knows it’s the end.”

Ms. Boyland was struck in the chest by a pepper ball fired by police at the rear of the tunnel, causing her to fall as she attempted to flee, her mother told The Epoch Times in July 2023.

Protester Edward “Jake” Lang helped to pull an unconscious Mr. Anderson to safety and a short time later, performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Ms. Boyland.

She was pronounced dead just after 6 p.m. at a nearby hospital.

Philip Anderson of Mesquite, Texas, addresses the crowd outside the Senate Wing door at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Department of Justice/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

“I unbunch him from this dog pile, and I start dragging him down the steps.” Mr. Lang told The Epoch Times in 2022. He helped move Mr. Anderson to a medic station, where volunteers revived him.

In addition to the role he played with Ms. Boyland, Mr. Anderson was one of the most outspoken protesters at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He made several speeches in which he decried corruption in the 2020 election and celebrated the breach of the Capitol.

‘This is Our Country’

His arrest and criminal charges come 28 months after the FBI interviewed Mr. Anderson at his home in Mesquite. He is just the latest of the more than 1,100 people arrested by the FBI for alleged actions protesting the 2020 presidential election at the U.S. Capitol.

Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Anderson participated in a “heave-ho” maneuver against the police line at the mouth of the tunnel and directed protesters to advance into the entrance.

A police officer fires pepper balls into a tightly packed crowd in the Lower West Terrace tunnel on Jan. 6, 2021. Rosanne Boyland's family says she collapsed onto the sidewalk after being struck in the chest by a police projectile. Metropolitan Police Department/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

A charging document filed in the case cited numerous statements Mr. Anderson allegedly made at the Capitol.

“I’m fighting against the stolen election,” he said in one video cited by the FBI.

“For four years straight, we haven’t rushed the Capitol, we haven’t vandalized nothing, we haven’t beat no one up,” he said in another video.

“But you pissed us the [expletive] off!”

According to federal prosecutors, Mr. Anderson entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing entrance at 3:17 p.m. After a police officer directed him to leave, Mr. Anderson exited the building after just a minute inside.

Just outside the Senate Wing door, Mr. Anderson used a blue megaphone to speak to the crowd.

“This is our country,” he said. “I don’t care how much the mainstream media bitches, moans, and whines. What are you going to do? Cry about it?”