According to Justice Department records, as of Aug. 24, there was only one arrest related to Jan. 6 in the Jacksonville area: that of Tyler Bensch, who was accused of being a member of a right-wing militia associated with the Three Percenter movement. .
What Mr Friend left out of his account – which was published in The New York Post and widely shared online – was that while Mr Bensch was only charged with misconduct, documents in his case say that on January 6, 2021, he made a video of himself outside the Capitol wearing body armor and a gas mask and an AR-15 style rifle. The documents also say that witnesses told the FBI that they had seen pictures of Mr. Bensch carrying a similar rifle at other times.
Former FBI agents who served on SWAT teams said the use of tactical agents during arrests has nothing to do with the charges a person faces, but is instead based on a risk assessment of the suspect.
“When in doubt, use SWAT,” says Robert D’Amico, who served four years on the Miami tactical team and nearly two decades on the hostage squad. “You never let the charge dictate the tactics.”
Last year, two FBI agents were killed and three others injured while serving a search warrant in a child pornography case in Florida. The suspect had no violent past and was considered low risk. The deadly episode illustrated the dangers of serving warrants or arresting suspects deemed non-threatening. The agents worked for Mr. Piro.
Mr Friend’s lawyer said his client objected to the SWAT team’s arrest because he wanted to “de-escalate” the situation and avoid what he described as another Ruby Ridge – a reference to a botched FBI raid on a white supremacist lot in Idaho in 1992 that has become a rallying cry for far-right extremists.
The FBI declined to comment on the attacks against Mr. Piro, but three former and current law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said he was not under investigation when he retired from the agency.
Mr Piro said he was depressed by the way some former officers had turned against the agency.
“I am saddened by their behavior and their utter disregard for those who work for the FBI,” he said, “and those who came before them to make the FBI the most important law enforcement agency in the world.”
