The Proud Boy brawler Tusitala “Tiny” Toese is jailed in Washington state on charges related to storming the governor’s mansion complex on Jan. 6, 2021, according to court documents and a police report obtained by Rolling Stone. Toese is accused of having “unlawfully entered the governor’s mansion grounds,” and having “assaulted and obstructed a law enforcement officer while the officer was performing his official duties.”
The incursion at governor’s mansion was a West Coast echo of the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol. On the same afternoon violent insurgents disrupted the Electoral College vote certifying Joe Biden’s victory in D.C., an angry mob of Trump supporters broke through a security gate, roughed up an officer, and swarmed around the residence of Gov. Jay Inslee in Olympia.
The mob of approximately 140 individuals — some sporting MAGA flags or signs reading “Trump Won 2020” and “Stop the Steal!” — occupied the lawn in front of the mansion and even banged on the door. Inslee was at the complex at the time and reportedly had to be moved into a safe room inside the residence. On any other day, an angry mob threatening a sitting governor would have made headlines from coast to coast; but because of the violence in Washington D.C. that afternoon, the ruckus in Washington state barely registered on the national news radar.
Trump supporters in front of governor’s residence chant a familiar refrain pic.twitter.com/uWLOCCxSRn
— Hal Bernton (@hbernton) January 6, 2021
State troopers ultimately removed the crowd, some of whom were said to be armed, after about 30 minutes of chaos. Inslee, the following day, decried the mob’s “acts of attempted intimidation,” vowing they would “not succeed in any way shape or form.”
Toese’s alleged role in this incursion is detailed in the documents obtained by Rolling Stone, embedded below.
Much like the law enforcement strategy with the insurgency at the U.S. Capitol, police in Washington state did not focus on making arrests the day of the event. Instead, they pieced together evidence after the fact. The police report on Toese, dated Feb. 10, 2021, describes identifying him on video footage of the incursion. “Toese encouraged protestors to enter the Mansion grounds through the pedestrian gate,” it alleges, describing Toese as among the first 20 or so crowd members to enter the complex, before heading up a driveway toward the governor’s mansion.
A state law enforcement officer known as a “trooper cadet” and identified in the police report only by his last name, “Schreiber,” was on duty near the breached entrance and “exited the security post and attempted to close the pedestrian gate,” the report reads. The report alleges that Toese, seeing Schrieber’s efforts to block the mob, returned to the gate and assaulted the trooper cadet.
Toese is reportedly 6’4″ and weighs nearly 300 pounds. “As Trooper Cadet Schreiber was attempting to prevent additional protesters from unlawfully entering the mansion grounds,” the report reads, “Toese used his right hand and forearm to forcibly push Trooper Cadet Schreiber.” As other protesters surrounded the law enforcement officer, Toese allegedly used a bullhorn to shout at him: “We pay your salary.”
Toese then allegedly egged on the mob to enter the complex. The police quotes him as shouting: “Come on in. We pay for this Mansion. Come on in.” The police report alleges Toese remained on the grounds for roughly half an hour.
The police report was attached to a certification of probable cause filed in Thurston County court on Feb. 16, 2021. “There is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the crimes of assault in the third degree… obstructing law enforcement officer, and criminal trespass in the second degree,” wrote Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Cailen Wevodau.
With probable cause established in February of last year, it’s unclear why Toese was not picked up by state authorities earlier. Toese spent the summer engaged in violent conflicts with Antifa, including an August 22 clash in Portland. Toese even returned to Olympia in September where a clash with anti-fascists turned bloody, when Toese himself was shot in the leg.
The exact circumstances of Toese’s arrest remain cloudy. But he was booked into the Thurston County jail system on Jan. 5, 2020 — one day short of the anniversary of the storming of the governor’s mansion.
Source: RollingStone
