The retired NYPD cop now charged with assaulting a D.C. cop in the Capitol riot that has been called domestic terrorism was previously assigned to guard the ruins of the World Trade Center as recovery teams extracted the remains of innocents killed by Islamist terrorism.
And 54-year-old Thomas Webster once presented himself as a victim of terrorism in a civil suit filed in the same federal jurisdiction where he was accused this week of attacking a District of Columbia police officer “like a junkyard dog.”
Webster can be seen on video wielding a metal flagpole and seeking to tear off the cop’s gas mask with such ferocity that he became known online as “the eye gouger.”
Webster’s transformation from supposed terror victim to accused terrorizer caused him to be denounced by a law-enforcement supervisor who directed and participated in the actual removal of remains from ground zero while the now-retired cop stood guard at the periphery. The supervisor does not remember Webster from those months in downtown Manhattan but had seen the Jan. 6 video from the Capitol.
“I look at it as a further desecration of all first responders,” said the official, who asked not to be named. “It’s taken 20 years, but he managed in my view to be as guilty as any terrorist or terrorist wannabe. You are attacking the very principles of our existence: democracy, the Constitution, the Capitol.”
In the 2006 civil action, Webster was one of a large number of plaintiffs suing a host of parties connected to the World Trade Center. He sought compensation for effects on his physical and mental health that he claimed to have suffered during 20 days between Dec. 13, 2001, and April 5, 2002, when he was assigned to provide security at the “WTC site.”
A fill-in-the-blanks complaint dated Sept. 18, 2006, says Webster was exposed to toxic fumes and substances that caused him a host of woes. Each is accompanied by a notation reading “Onset 6/1/2003,” or more than a year after his 20 days of duty. He specifically cites “asthma, cough, respiratory problems, shortness of breath” as well as “fear of cancer” and “sleep problems.”
“Date physician first connected this injury to WTC work: To be supplied at a later date,” reads a notation accompanying each.
And there is this: “NOTE: The foregoing is NOT an exhaustive list of injuries that may be alleged.”
In summary, the complaint says that “as a direct and proximate result of the injuries” to Webster he “has in the past suffered and/or will in the future suffer the following compensable damages: Pain and suffering… Loss of the enjoyment of life… Loss of earnings and/or impairment of earning capacity… Loss of retirement benefits/diminution of… Expenses for medical care, treatment, and rehabilitation.”
Under “other,” the suit lists “Mental anguish… Disability… Medical monitoring.”
The complaint contends that Webster’s wife has “in the past suffered and/or will in the future suffer a loss of the love, society, companionship, services, affection, and support of the plaintiff and such other losses, injuries and damages for which compensation is legally appropriate.”
The many plaintiffs in the suit settled on undisclosed terms on Jan. 25, 2011. Webster retired from the NYPD four months later, on May 1, just one day more than required to receive a full pension.
He became a cop on April 30, 1991, after serving three years in the Marine Corps. He started as a member of the New York Housing Police which was a separate department until it became part of the NYPD four years later. He continued to work in Housing Public Service Area 8 in the Bronx after the merger and made 40 arrests, 14 of them for felonies. He received one citation for “Excellent police duty” and his performance ratings are described as “all good.” But he was not considered to be anybody special.
“He was a very unremarkable cop,” a high-ranking supervisor later said.
Three months after 9/11, he was detailed to provide security in the vicinity of ground zero. He apparently met or knew somebody who knew somebody and he got a nice day-after-Christmas present when became a uniformed member of the Intelligence Division on Dec. 26, 2006. He manned booths at City Hall and at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence. The high-ranking supervisor would later note the similarity between Webster’s duties and those of the Capital Police down in Washington.
“Guarding government buildings,” the supervisor said.
Whatever lasting effect his 20 days in the environs of Ground Zero may have had, he was able to start Semper Fi Landscaping company upon his retirement. He was given to wearing a Marine Corps T-shirt. A hint of his political orientation came in a Facebook picture of him holding a decorated cake with one of his three children.
“TRUMP 2016,” the icing read.
At 4:32 a.m. on Jan. 6, a license plate reader such as were installed after 9/11 picked up New York plate HVU2139 on the outbound side of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. That plate is registered to Webster and video subsequently shows him striding up to the west side of the Capitol carrying a metal flagpole bearing a Marine Corps banner. He wore a red, black, and white snow jacket as well as what looks like a bulletproof vest. Court papers say he later insisted to the FBI that he left his gun in his hotel room.
In its criminal complaint, the FBI says body-camera footage shows Webster approaching a D.C. cop identified only as N.R., who was standing behind a metal barricade at 2:38 p.m. N.R. was guarding the Capitol just as Webster had once guarded ground zero and then City Hall and Gracie Mansion.
“Webster enters the screen carrying a large metal flagpole,” the complaint says. “As he enters the screen, Webster is waving his finger at N.R. and yelling: ‘You fucking piece of shit. You fucking Commie motherfuckers, man... Come on, take your shit off. Take your shit off.’”
The complaint continues, “After berating N.R., Webster can be observed aggressively shoving the metal gate into N.R.’s body... Webster then raises the metal flagpole above his head and forcefully swings downward, striking the metal barricade directly in front of N.R.”
“Webster then attempts to attack N.R. by lunging toward him with the metal flagpole. Webster strikes at N.R. with the flagpole numerous times. N.R. is eventually able to wrest the weapon away from Webster’s clutch before N.R. falls to the ground. N.R. quickly stands back up, and begins retreating further behind the metal barricade.”
“Webster proceeds to break through the metal barricade and begins charging toward N.R. with clenched fists. Webster ultimately lunges at N.R. and tackles him to the ground.
The complaint then cites another video. “Webster can be seen pinning N.R. to the ground and straddling him while he tries to forcibly remove N.R.’s face shield and gas mask… N.R. advised that the individual who had assaulted him attempted to rip off N.R.’s helmet, and that he was being choked by his chin strap and was unable to breathe during this portion of the assault.”
Still more video, this later posted on YouTube, shows Webster on the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol Building. The complaint notes, “Webster says into the camera, ‘Send more patriots. We need some help.”
The FBI was tipped to Webster’s identity after it posted photos of him on its “Be On The Lookout (BOLO) Assault on Federal Officer (AFO) list” for what it terms “the ongoing U.S. Capitol Riot investigation.” Agents compared the images from the Capital to a photo Webster had attached to a recent passport application. They further confirmed the identification by comparing the pictures with those on his mother’s Facebook page and by speaking with an administrator at the high school where Webster regularly dropped off one of his children.
On Monday, Webster turned himself in to the FBI in upstate New York. He surrendered his guns and passport. He appeared in White Plains federal court on Tuesday and his lawyer argued that his client had only been exercising his right to protest.
Webster’s lawyer, James Monroe, said in court that his client intends to plead not guilty. Monroe sought to describe Webster as a victim, saying his client had only been responding after the D.C. cop struck him. The judge agreed when the prosecutor noted that considerable evidence shows the attack was unprovoked. Webster was remanded as a potential menace.
Monroe did not respond to a Daily Beast request for comment on Wednesday. Nor did the lawyer for the ground zero civil suit, Paul Napoli.
Along with the law enforcement supervisor who feels Webster committed desecration along with insurrection, an NYPD commander offered an opinion as to how a seemingly unremarkable cop who once guarded ground zero came to figure so dramatically in a riot that is being called domestic terrorism.
“He lost his f---ing mind!”
