‘Rise up’: Ex-cop accused of participating in Capitol riot rails against arrest on YouTube

WINDERMERE, Fla. — A former Windermere police officer facing federal charges for his alleged participation in the U.S. Capitol riot is railing against his charges in a new YouTube video, calling for other conservatives to “rise up.”

Kevin Tuck was arrested in July and resigned from the Windermere Police Department the same day.

Read: Windermere officer, former Apopka officer arrested on charges stemming from Capitol riot

He told investigative reporter Karla Ray that he would like to speak with her on the record but was waiting on clearance from his attorney to do so.

Tuck is facing a list of charges related to the insurrection after investigators said he entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

“Pastor Kevin here, the patriot pastor, coming to you,” Tuck said in the YouTube video.

In a stark contrast to his mostly silence while leaving federal court last month, the former chaplain and officer talked about that day in Washington for which he is now facing charges.

Read: Woman fights to have ham radio operations banned after potential interference with insulin pump

“You look at Jan. 6, that was a day that patriots were fed up -- fed up,” he said. “Patriots are being arrested left and right for trespassing. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Tuck and his son, Nathaniel Tuck, a former Apopka police officer, are both facing similar charges.

In the almost 25-minute-long video, Tuck called for conservatives to “rise up,” raging against Republicans and what he considers “alternative lifestyles.”

“The Republican Party is weak,” Kevin Tuck said. “We need to rise up and be conservative again. Do you remember what conservative means, Republicans? Hear me out: We are embracing the homosexual lifestyle as if this is normal.”

Read: Coronavirus: Study finds unvaccinated people 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19

Ray asked Kevin Tuck on Tuesday by phone what that issue had to do with what happened Jan. 6th.

“Was that your motivation for going to Washington?” she asked.

Tuck did not want to answer on the record until getting clearance from his attorney, but the video sets him apart from others accused in the insurrection.

An Associated Press analysis from July found that almost 50 defendants all but wiped their online footprints before or after their arrests.

Locally, most who have been arrested have remained silent.

“We need to go back to becoming a conservative nation again,” Tuck said. “Back to nationalism. Being proud of this country.”

Video: Windermere officer, former Apopka officer arrested on charges stemming from Capitol riot A father and son, both with law enforcement backgrounds, were arrested and charged Thursday with taking part in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. (WFTV)

©2021 Cox Media Group