Georgia cop turned in by his own department after storming Capitol, feds say
A Georgia cop who claimed he was among “the first ones over the fence” as a mob of pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol could face federal charges, authorities say.
Michael Shane Daughtry is accused of “knowingly and willfully” joining the crowd that breached the federal building Jan. 6 and “impeded, disrupted and disturbed” lawmakers’ efforts to certify the results of the presidential election, according to a probable cause affidavit released by the Justice Department on Tuesday.
Daughtry, a Pelham Police Department officer, not only bragged online about “pushing [our] way to the very front” of the Capitol but admitted to taking part in the violent siege in a recorded phone call with a fellow department officer — who alerted the FBI, according to the DOJ.
“We [sic] the one that tore the fence down up there,” Daughtry said, according to the affidavit. “We was the first ones over the fence. Everybody followed us.”
On the call, Daughtry said he got as far as the Capitol door but was forced to retreat after officers shot him and others with rubber bullets, the document said.
The FBI said it launched an investigation Jan. 7 after the Pelham Police Department also provided investigators with screenshots from Daughtry’s personal Facebook page, which included posts about his plans to travel to Washington, D.C., to “support [Donald] Trump and put our two cents in.”
“We’re headed to Washington, D.C. where they’re expecting 4 million people,” he wrote two days before the riot, according to screenshots included in the affidavit. “Looks like we have have to walk 5 about miles ... but it’ll be worth it to yell crap at [Nancy] Pelosi and the rest of the idiots that left wing retards voted into office.”
In a post from Jan. 6, Daughtry shared a picture of the Capitol and noted how it was easy to force his way upfront because “I look like security.” He also parroted false claims that the crowd had been infiltrated by Antifa protesters, who he claimed were “bussed in” by police to “fake clash” at the Capitol, according to screenshots of his other posts shared online.
“The violence was all stagged [sic] by the Capital Police to make us look bad,” Daughtry said, the screenshots show. “I never saw one patriot cause any damage or cause any trouble.”
Photos and videos from that day showed rioters scaling walls, assaulting officers and smashing windows before breaching the Capitol Rotunda and, later, the House and Senate chambers, McClatchy News reported. At least five people died in the violence, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.
A Georgia woman was one of three rioters who died after suffering “medical emergencies” during the siege, while another woman was shot and killed by police, officials said.
It’s unclear if Daughtry is still employed with the police department in Pelham, located just over 50 miles north of Tallahassee, Florida.
McClatchy News reached out to the Pelham Police Department for comment and is awaiting a response.
This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Georgia cop turned in by his own department after storming Capitol, feds say."