A shirtless man claiming to be a “documentarian” is among the latest FBI arrests in conjunction with the Capitol riot in January.
Featured Video
Hide
Chase Allen is facing charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct for his part in the insurrection. Photos placed him at the scene, and one appears to show him destroying press gear in Washington, D.C., on January 6.
But Allen is telling reporters that actually, he’s just like them.
Advertisement
Hide
“I’m a documentarian,” he told WPRI as he stood shirtless outside of his house. “As like you guys, when you guys hear something, you guys show up, as you do now, and ask questions, or record and see what happens. That’s what I was doing there.”
When asked to confirm or deny that the picture of a man dressed exactly like Allen was that day stomping on press gear was, in fact, him, Allen declined to comment.
He also told the FBI that he tried to de-escalate the rioting and was not involved in destroying equipment — something the photo and video evidence seems to negate.
“I just went there to document and one thing led to another and the next thing I know, the FBI is at my door,” he said, leaving a whole lot of empty space in that statement for the actual events of the riot.
Unfortunately for Allen, the FBI doesn’t seem to be buying his story, and the public isn’t either.
Advertisement
Hide
Just a peaceful tourist, out for a nice stroll in the capitol…
Until those pesky photos surfaced showing him stomping on photographic equpiment…. /1https://t.co/iBDzKq21Zq
— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪
(@wdlindsy) July 1, 2021
Allen actually had a run in with law enforcement on January 7, according to the FBI complaint against him. He showed up at the FBI Las Vegas Headquarters insisting that he was there to “conduct ‘1st Amendment audits’ of a law enforcement agency in every state.”
The complaint says he was eventually told he was trespassing, and was arrested by Las Vegas Metro Police for jaywalking as he left the premises.
*First Published: July 1, 2021, 7:10 am
0 Comments