Retired firefighter schools fellow 'brother' who claimed the Capitol riot was a 'false flag'

About 700 people were expected to attend the "Justice for J6" rally earlier this month. However, heightened fears surrounding the event — which according to a statement issued by the group organizing the event, was held in support of defendants charged with "nonviolent offenses" in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol — proved to be largely unwarranted. According to Capitol Police, only about 400 to 450 people attended the rally, and based on videos and photos that made their way to social media, a good number of those who showed up appeared to be reporters and cameramen.

Among those who did actually come to attend the event was a retired firefighter in a navy blue uniform, complaining about the election results and claiming that the January 6 insurrection was a "false flag" operation. Unfortunately for him, another retired firefighter who'd been counter-protesting at the event was quick to set the record straight and school him on the sanctity of his uniform. A video that's been making the rounds of the internet shows the unformed man going on about the alleged "false flag" before the other former firefighter — who later identified himself as Eric Lamar — jumps in to blast his false claims.

"Hey, I'm a firefighter, too, and this guy is talking pure bulls**t," Lamar says in the video. "There is no question that what happened on January 6 is the work of people, supporters of Donald Trump, who decided falsely and without any proof that the 2020 election... was fake." As he speaks, someone off-camera can be heard asking over and over if he was there, presumably at the Capitol during the riot. "Hold on big dog," Lamar says to them before confirming that he personally witnessed what happened at the Capitol on January 6.

"It would never occur to me to come down here wearing my class A's," Lamar continues, taking a shot at his fellow firefighter for showing up in full uniform. "I'm saying that this, what you're seeing right here, folks, is part of the problem, and it's someone, and I almost weep to say this, that is from a highly respected fire department. This guy is a captain, and I have the utmost respect for my brothers and sisters at FDNY and certainly for someone who not only is a captain but, as you can see, looks the part, and he is coming down here today and he is spreading lies."

Lamar went on to reiterate that Trump supporters attacked, beat, injured, and in some cases possibly caused the deaths of fellow people in uniform when they stormed the Capitol. "And they did it when they went on the Capitol grounds, when they forced their way into the building, when they pushed by police officers, and they beat them, they sprayed them with bear mace, hit them with canes and batons, stole their own equipment," he says int he video. "And for my brother, a brother public safety personnel, to come in here and spin another narrative, and to do it in uniform — it breaks my heart."

Lamar also addressed his encounter with the uniformed man on his blog in a post titled, The J6 Rally and FDNY’s Captain Patterson. "As a retired firefighter of 23 years service, I was astonished to look across the crowd and see an impressively tall gentleman attired in the full dress uniform of the FDNY speaking to a group of attendees; I wandered over to listen.
With almost professorial authority, Captain Patterson informed folks that the January 6 incident was a 'false flag' operation, i.e., that it was carried out by the U.S. Government.
The late Christopher Hitchens used to call someone like Patterson the 'diesel exhaust of democracy,'" he wrote.

"But Patterson's appropriation of FDNY is a deadly serious business because he hijacks the respect and trust accorded the profession to retail his seditious theories. Over 100 police officers were injured, many of them seriously, during the riot. These January 6 'patriots' engaged in a pitched battle with Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers on the approaches to the building," Lamar continued. "Officers were punched, kicked, trampled, hit with clubs, and sprayed with bear mace; it was a brutal and prolonged assault which culminated with them being overrun by the mob. Since that day five officers have died."

"When I brought this to Captain Patterson's attention, he took vigorous exception that those dying by suicide were job-related despite the fact it is well known that suicide is obviously connected to PTSD and many January 6 officers now struggle with that grave malady. Not content with his 'false flag' assertion, Patterson invoked 9/11 and the 343 dead FDNY firefighters as part of his diatribe. He and his cohort will defend the brutal attack and murder of police officers and desecrate the memories of the courageous fallen all to support the narrative of a draft-dodging coward and serial liar who lost fair and square," he concluded.