A retired NYPD officer captured on surveillance footage festively shaking a tambourine inside the Capitol Rotunda during the deadly Jan. 6 siege surrendered to the FBI Tuesday morning.
Sara Carpenter, 51, of Richmond Hill, Queens, is charged with one count each of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct or disruptive conduct in a restricted building, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
In security footage, the ex-cop can be seen inside the Rotunda wearing a red hat, green coat and black boots, as she twirls around and shakes the tambourine, prosecutors allege.
The FBI got an anonymous tip on Jan. 7 after she called a relative and admitted she had been inside the Capitol building during the riot and said she had been teargassed before returning home that night, a criminal complaint states.
On Jan. 18, the FBI interviewed Carpenter, who said she drove to Washington, DC, to join a pro-Trump rally. “Carpenter stated that at the rally point, she heard President Trump’s words on the jumbo televisions and speakers instructing people to rally back, not leave, and march to the Capitol,” the complaint alleges.
The ex-cop marched to the Capitol with a mob of Trump supporters as a joint session of Congress convened to certify President Biden’s victory.
She told agents that while inside the Rotunda, she was trampled and pepper-sprayed as police ordered the intruders to leave. Carpenter took video of the anarchic scene, which she forwarded to the agents, the complaint says.
The tambourine allegedly used by Sara Carpenter during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. DOJDuring a court-ordered search of her home, agents recovered the clothing she had worn and the tambourine.
She appeared in Brooklyn federal court on a complaint out of Washington, DC, and was released without bail.
More than 300 people have been arrested in connection with the storming of the Capitol that left five people dead.
