Submitted photo
Greenleaf native Tim Beining drove from his home in Florida to Washington D.C. last week for the “March for America” rally for President Trump. The retired law enforcement officer saw people entering the U.S. Capitol building but stayed away himself.
By Brian Roebke
Editor
Tim Beining, who was raised in Greenleaf and graduated from Wrightstown High School drove from his home in Florida to Washington D.C. last week for the “March for America” rally for President Trump. While people stormed the Capitol, Beining said most of them were peaceful.
Beining earned an associate degree in criminal justice from NWTC, but his police career took place in north metropolitan Atlanta.
“It wasn’t the “woke mob” described on the news,” he said in a text conversation over the weekend. “It was the “woke people” with a huge crowd, maybe one million true patriots, including entire families, desperately trying to finally be heard by the representatives that had the ability to stand in the way of a sham election”
He said it was a last resort after representatives seemingly were turning their backs on facts and evidence and after DOJ, FBI and courts already refused to even hear evidence despite the magnitude of the stakes.
While at the rally, he witnessed history.
“The first person I saw go over the first wall onto the Capitol grounds was a man in his mid-60’s, likely retired U.S. Army, wearing his old dress green jacket with Master Sergeant rank on both sleeves,” Beining said. “Surely to be arrested immediately; this was the immediate tone of civic responsibility as the crowd first approached. They were “going in” and arrest was worth it! It felt revolutionary. It was emotional to me, being an Army Vet. A sergeant that took orders from men just like this old patriot.”
That said, he condemns all who used unnecessary force against police, apparently causing the death of one officer and injuring several others. “And those that caused violent destruction and I expect to see them arrested and prosecuted,” he said. Several people were arrested in the days following the event since they were clearly identifiable in photos taken inside the capitol.
“It just didn’t have to go that far, but people had come from all states and were clearly going to be heard while they were there,” he said.
“Why it went that far where people forced entry inside, I’m not sure. In hindsight now, I believe there was ANTIFA embedded,” he said. “I didn’t see that, or maybe I did because I had been informed of eight bus loads dropped off on Monday night and I did see groups in the crowd that were somewhat geared up and with radio communications. They were a bit shady looking and definitely were not government people.”
While many Americans were surprised how easily people got into the “people’s house,” it was especially surprising for Beining, with his law enforcement background.
He was “absolutely shocked” to see how ill prepared the police were and at their panicked response to the majority that were peaceful.
“Many protesters of both sexes and all ages were peacefully singing the National Anthem and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and were being peppered with rubber bullets and gassed continuously with no verbal instructions or warnings,” he said. “This only agitated the crowd more, causing more people to rush the building; yet police didn’t change tactics. That was unbelievable to me as the wind was blowing the gas right back at them and they didn’t even possess masks! They were getting the worst of it, but kept doing it!”
During his career he was a police supervisor and had briefly been a riot control instructor.
“Our training far exceeded what I was witnessing,” he said. “I felt really bad for them. They weren’t prepared.”
Beining added, “Overall, despite everything known now about that day, I want people to think about that old soldier first over the fence and the young lady that was killed by an officer inside the capitol who was a four-tour Air Force Vet and understand the urgency of the time and place and a government that refused to follow due process in a MAJOR election.”