NEW YORK (AP) — The FBI arrested a former spokesperson for the New York City Police Department on Tuesday on charges she entered the U.S. Capitol — and shook a tambourine — during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Sara Carpenter, a retired police officer who lives in Queens, drove to Washington the night before the deadly siege and took video as the chaos unfolded inside the Capitol Rotunda, the FBI said in court filings.
Surveillance footage showed her shaking a tambourine that agents later recovered during a search of her residence. She told the FBI she was “trampled and pepper-sprayed as she exited the Capitol building,” according to court filings.
Carpenter, 51, who retired from the NYPD in 2004, was charged with misdemeanor counts of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority.
Her defense attorney declined to comment on the charges. A message seeking comment was sent to the NYPD.
The FBI said it had been alerted to Carpenter’s presence inside the Capitol by an anonymous tip.
Carpenter was interviewed by the FBI on Jan. 18 and sent agents footage she took of the siege the following day, according to court papers.