Capitol Hill Rioter Who Attacked Police With Fire Extinguisher Identified By Online Sleuths

Robert Scott Palmer, 53, of Florida was identified by "Amy" of Capitol Hunters, who calls herself a "Random civilian internet sleuth.” Palmer remains at large and is considered dangerous.
By Ed Scarce — March 6, 2021

One of the odder and more disquieting things about the Capitol Hill riot has been that the perpetrators are more often than not identified by online sleuths who are pouring over the thousands of images of that day or by tips. Many of them use the hashtag #SeditionHunters on Twitter. And only then after investigating these tips do the FBI step in and make the arrests. The person who caught Palmer went by "Amy" for this interview (a pseudonym, with the Twitter account @CountryOverParty). And this fellow who allegedly attacked police with a fire extinguisher remains at large, and has a criminal record with violence. He has not been arrested yet.

Source: New York Post

A US Capitol rioter who allegedly assaulted police with a fire extinguisher says President Biden wants to “vilify the patriots” who breached the building, according to a report that revealed his identity Friday.

Robert Scott Palmer, 53, was allegedly captured on camera spraying officers at close range then throwing the emptied canister at them while wearing an easy-to-spot American flag jacket on Jan. 6, the Huffington Post reported.

Reached by phone, the Florida father — who runs a cleaning business and has a criminal record — griped that cops at the Capitol launched crowd-control munition at him for no good reason, according to the outlet.

He then claimed that the Biden administration is unfairly targeting patriots in its effort to find and arrest rioters.

“I’m just going about it and letting them make the mistakes that they want and ruin the country as they want, and I’m just trying to live my life right now,” he said before becoming agitated. “I’m just going to just leave it like that. I’m not getting myself any — not deeper, ’cause I didn’t do anything wrong — but I’m not involving myself anymore.”

And more on "Amy," the hero of this story.

While Palmer was storming the Capitol in January, Amy was home sick, thousands of miles away. She had contracted COVID-19 and was getting restless while recovering in isolation. After watching in horror as the insurrection unfolded, she decided to use some of her time in quarantine poring over footage from the attack and trying to track down rioters. Using the Twitter handle @CountryOvParty, she worked with the group @capitolhunters as they tried to mine through a seemingly endless flow of photos and videos, assigning catchy hashtags to various persons of interest to bring some order to the chaos.

“The more that I watched [from the insurrection] the more that I felt like I had lost control over what this country was supposed to be,” said Amy, who is a federal employee. “Spending that time searching was a way to regain control of the situation for me.”

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Become a subscriber:
 
Make a donation:

If you don't mind the ads and would rather donate, please select one of the options below:

Kindest
Donate via PayPal
Via Snail Mail
payable to: Crooksandliars
528 Palisades Drive
Ste 548
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

Explore more

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.

What's Hot

Happening now

Latest from Blue America

Help Make America Blue
Mastodon