Capitol officer says rioters' sentences aren't harsh enough: 'Their jail time is less than my recovery time'

• Sgt. Aquilino Gonell said he didn't think some of the Capitol rioters' sentences were harsh enough.
• He said their charges didn't compare to the "mental and physical injuries" police officers received.

A Capitol police officer told NPR that he didn't think the January 6 rioters' jail sentences were harsh enough.

"Their jail time is less than my recovery time," Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was still recovering from an injured shoulder and was in therapy for anxiety related to January 6, told NPR.

"The charges they're getting do not compare to the mental and physical injuries some of the police officers, including myself, got," Gonell added.

Gonell told NPR that he was stationed outside the west entrance to the Capitol on January 6, and he described the scene, in which rioters stormed the building as Congress debated electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, as a "medieval battleground."

So far, 727 people have been charged in the Capitol insurrection, and Gonell told NPR that he hoped there would be "stiff penalties" in future sentencings.

Gonell returned to work 10 months after the insurrection but remained on administrative duties because of his injuries.

He told NPR that the only thing on his mind as the first anniversary of the insurrection loomed was "anxiety."

NPR reported that Gonell requested leave from work for January 6, 2022.

"A lot of the officers have in mind the possibility of this being a recurring annual or every four year thing, which is why officers like myself are being outspoken about it, because we don't want to go through this again," Gonell said.