US police shrugged off the Proud Boys, until they attacked the Capitol
18 minutes to read
By: David D. Kirkpatrick and Alan Feuer
Two Proud Boys accused of leading a mob to Congress followed a bloody path to get there. Law enforcement did little to stop them.
A protester was burning an American flag outside the 2016 Republican
convention in Cleveland when Joseph Biggs rushed to attack. Jumping a police line, he ripped the man's shirt off and "started pounding," he boasted that night in an online video.
But police charged the flag burner with assaulting Biggs. The city later paid US$225,000 to settle accusations that police had falsified their reports out of sympathy with Biggs, who went on to become a leader of the far-right Proud Boys.