A Chicago police officer was arrested on Friday for his involvement in the U.S. Capitol Insurrection on Jan. 6. The insurrection was an attempt to prevent the certifying of the 2020 presidential election results.
The Huffington Post reports that Chicago police officer Karol J. Chwiesiuk appeared remotely before U.S. Judge Gabriel Fuentes and faces five federal misdemeanors including violent entry and disorderly conduct. His bond is currently set at $15,000.
In a text message with an associate, Chwiesiuk said he was “busy planning how to f— up commies” three days before the riots.
“I’m going to D.C,” he texted on Jan. 3.
“When and for what?” the acquaintance responded.
“To save the nation. Leaving tomorrow or the fifth,” Chwiseiuk said.
He then used the N-word in the exchange, expressing his shock that “there’s so many Blacks here.”
“I’m actually in disbelief,” he said while at the U.S. Capitol. “N—– Don’t snitch,” he said in a later exchange.
“The fact that a Chicago police officer has been charged in that attack on American democracy, makes my blood boil. Makes me sick to my stomach,” CPD Superintendent David Brown said during a press conference.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Chwiesiuk traveled from Chicago to Washington D.C. to join the angry mob of Trump supporters and was seen wearing a CPD sweatshirt in pictures. Chwiesiuk was hired in 2018 after a brief stint with the Cook County Sheriff’s Department and has since been stripped of his police powers and assigned to desk duty.
Brown, alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot, condemned the actions of the officer and vowed not to “leave any rock unturned” when it comes to finding “like-minded beliefs” in the police force. Brown promised to “root them out of this department.”
“We have a zero-tolerance for hate or extremism of any kind,” Brown said during the press conference. “If you harbor such ignorance, you should take off your star now and find another line of work. Or I will do it for you.”
Lightfoot called the officer a “total disgrace” and sent a “clear and unequivocal message” that “we will have no tolerance for hate. Period.”
“This isn’t about one police officer charged with a heinous assault on our democracy,” she said.
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