Officer Fanone Says Jan. 6 Rioter’s Mom Apologized in Court—Then Called Him a ‘Piece of Sh*t’

Former Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone says he was repeatedly called a “piece of shit” during the trial of one of the men who attacked him during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Fanone made the allegation while speaking on CNN after rioter Kyle Young was sentenced to seven years in federal prison Tuesday for his role in the attack, which included shocking Fanone with a stun gun. “When I was walking back from the podium delivering my victim impact statement, an individual who was seated with other relatives of Mr. Young stood up and called me a piece of shit,” Fanone said. “He was quickly escorted out of the courtroom and then out of the court building by the U.S. Marshalls.” Fanone added that he believed the remorse expressed by some Jan. 6 rioters and their relatives is merely performative in order to try and secure more lenient sentences. “His mother stood up and tried to apologize to me in the courtroom,” Fanone said, referring to Young’s mother. “And then later on, as I was leaving the courthouse, his mother and several other individuals who were seated with her in the courtroom again called me a piece of shit. So I think it’s just another example of a January 6 defendant begging for leniency, but in reality there’s no remorse there.”