Several Capitol Police officers were suspended over the weekend while they, and others, are under investigation for suspicion of aiding and abetting the Capitol Hill riot that shut Congress down for several hours, ransacked the home of the House and Senate and left at least five people dead, including an officer.

Police departments around the country are investigating some of their officers who attended and may have participated in the attack. One of those departments is Rocky Mount’s in adjoining Franklin County.

Rocky Mount police Sgt. Thomas “T.J.” Robertson and fellow officer Jacob Fracker decided to go to Washington and join the “attack” on the U.S. government.

But he claims they “did nothing wrong.”

“We were escorted in by the Capitol Police, shown around and told, ‘As long as you stay here, you’re fine,’” he told the Associated Press. He claimed they stayed in cordoned areas and were not aware of the violence elsewhere in the building.

However, on Facebook, he wrote:

CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business … The right IN ONE DAY took the f——— U.S. Capitol. Keep poking us.

Hmm. He said “we actually attacked the government” and followed the comment with they “took the f—–g U.S. Capitol.” Just who is “we,” Sgt. Robertson?

In another post, Robertson, whose Facebook page says lives, and is from, Floyd, said:

Nothing wrong? If that is how Robertson feels, then the Rocky Mount police department needs a serious reality check.

Participating in an event where five people died, including a Capitol Hill Police officer, is being labeled a “serious criminal act of sedition” by many law enforcement officials in Washington.

To local officials in Rocky Mount and Franklin County, including Commonwealth’s Attorney A.J. Dudley, Robertson added:

Fracker, on his Facebook page that has now been taken down, added:

On the Roanoke Times website Sunday, Luanne Rife, Mike Allen and Karen Dillion wrote:

A photograph circulating on social media of two off-duty Rocky Mount police officers inside the U.S. Capitol during Wednesday’s riot sparked a Black Lives Matter protest Sunday outside the department’s building on North Main Street.

In the image, Rocky Mount Police Sgt. T.J. Robertson and Officer Jacob Fracker stand before a statue of John Stark, a Revolutionary War officer from New Hampshire. Robertson appears to be pointing at Fracker, while Fracker, who took the selfie, is making an obscene gesture at the camera.

–The Roanoke Times

The story also appears in the paper’s print edition.

Trump has been popular with police officers since his accidental win of the presidency in 2016 and many have gone on social media to join the chorus of Trumpets who claim “widespread fraud” in the 2020 election cost their idol the election.

More than 90 state and federal judges disagree. They have dismissed the claims of “fraud” outright, including the U.S. Supreme Court, where three justices Trump appointed sided with the law and Constitution, not him.

The government of Rocky Mount, confirming the suspension of Robertson and Fracker, said in a statement:

The Town of Rocky Mount fully supports all lawful expressions of freedom of speech and assembly by its employees but does not condone the unlawful acts that occurred that day.

Some questions Rocky Mount, and other police officers, should ask:

• Why didn’t two sworn officers of the law, even off-duty ones form out-of-state, come to the aid of Capitol Police officers facing attacks from a mob that invaded the government? Did they even offer to help?
• And was Robertson’s Facebook comment that “we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business … The right IN ONE DAY took the f——— U.S. Capitol. Keep poking us” an admission of guilt by a sworn officer of the law who took an oath to protect such laws?
• Fracker was raising his middle finger when photographed inside the Capitol on Wednesday, on Jan. 6. Robertson resorted to vile obscenities to describe the Capitol and the government. Is he an officer of the law or one of the lawless who attacked democracy?

The Rocky Mount police chief and the leaders of many other police departments that had “off-duty” officers in Washington on Jan. 8 need to get answers to such questions.

One could argue that an officer of the law has the right to protest publicly on any issue they wish, but a sworn officer of the law also have an oath to support their government against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The actions in Washington are being called sedition and a violent attempt to overthrow a lawful election on charges of “fraud” that have been dismissed by more than 90 state and federal judges in more than 50 cases.

An impeachment filing in the House of Representatives charges the outgoing president with “incitement of insurrection” against the government he swore to serve and uphold. Republicans, as well as Democrats, say they will vote for that impeachment and the bill has more than enough co-sponsors to pass it outright and send it to the Senate to try Donald John Trump, even after he is no longer president.

“We actually attacked the government,” said Rocky Mount Police Sgt. Thomas Robertson on his Facebook page. Did he? If so, shouldn’t he have to answer for that claim?