Capitol Police Officer Shares Emotional Call with Daughter During Jan. 6 Riots (Exclusive Excerpt)

‘I hung up and immediately started screaming,’ Harry Dunn writes in his new book, ‘Standing My Ground,’ which details his experience during the Capitol riots

Jan. 6, 2021, was a day that shocked the world when rioters stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election results. For Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, hours after enduring the day's emotional trauma, as well as racist remarks from pro-Donald Trump mobs, while on duty, he reported to work again.

“I went back six hours later,” Dunn tells PEOPLE. “It's tough because as much as I admire that place and I love it and I hold it so dear to my heart, it's also the symbol of a bad day, a memory of a horrible day in this country.”

Dunn found himself reliving that day as he wrote his new book, Standing My Ground, out Oct. 24 from Hachette Books. Through vulnerable prose, Dunn details his perspective of Jan. 6, as well as its aftermath, as he began to share his story widely. Dunn was one of the officers who testified before Congress during the House Committee Jan. 6 hearings in 2022 and was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, which is the second-highest U.S. civilian award, by President Joe Biden in January.

Related: 5 Key Moments from the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot Hearing, from Never-Before-Seen Video to Ivanka Trump's Testimony

“The anger, the sadness, this desire that I have for justice and accountability is motivating me to not take my foot off the gas,” Dunn says. “And I'm just me. I don't have any power to bring charges or to create legislation. I'm just this person with a story who cares about doing the right thing.”

In an exclusive excerpt from Standing My Ground, Dunn details an emotional phone call he had with his daughter, Daphne, as rioters roamed the halls of the Capitol building.

The corridor I was on took me directly to the Senate Chamber, where the senators meet publicly to vote on bills and give speeches about pending legislation. I made a right turn as I approached the front door of the chamber and turned down the wide hall, where reporters and television crews grab senators for brief interviews before and after sessions. I hit the next corridor and turned left. I passed the area where Officer Eugene Goodman saw Senator Mitt Romney headed toward the rioters. Goodman deftly faked them into following him in the opposite direction and led them away from a man they most certainly would have harmed.

I made it out the east side and back to my post and the podium where my phone and helmet were sitting. As soon as I picked up the phone, I saw a video call coming in from my daughter, Daphne. Daphne was eleven. She was at home with her mother. She probably hadn’t gotten home from school much earlier. I took my jacket sleeve and tried to clean off my face, so she wouldn’t see me looking all crazy when I turned on my video. I had forgotten that my jacket and most of my clothes were covered with pepper spray and other irritants. I was in pain but I had to hold it in and take the call.

Related: Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman Recounts How He Held Off Mob on Jan. 6

“Hey, baby,” I said in my daddy voice, as though everything were normal. “How are you?”

She didn’t have a clue what was going on. She was telling me a little about her day. She was just talking. She was telling me how she made homemade ice cream. I was screaming inside from the pain, but I had to hold it together for her. Finally, I told her I had to get back to work. I’m sure her mom knew what was happening, so I sent her momma a message through my daughter that only her mother and I would truly understand.

“Gotta go, baby,” I said in my upbeat voice. “Tell Mommy that Daddy’s okay.”

I hung up and immediately started screaming, because my eyes and face were burning. I looked at my phone, and there were a million messages. There’s no way I could respond to all these people individually. So, I decided to post something on Facebook. I’m pretty active on Facebook. It’s how I keep up with many of my friends, particularly the people from my days at James Madison University. I went to Facebook and posted, “I’m okay.” At that point, I had to get back into the fight.

Excerpted from STANDING MY GROUND: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th. by Harry Dunn. Copyright © 2023. Available from Hachette Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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