Two Capitol Police officers have filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump accusing him of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol that left them with “physical and emotional injuries.”

The suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, describes the harrowing personal accounts of officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby.

Blassingame was among a group of officers that tried to hold off rioters charging into the Crypt, the area inside the Capitol on the floor below the Rotunda. The mob of Trump supporters slammed Blassingame against a stone column and then yelled racial slurs at him, the suit claims.

“He struck his spine and the back of his head and was unable to move,” the lawsuit says. “For the first time in his life, people were yelling into his face, calling him a [n*****] repeatedly and throughout the attack in the Crypt. He lost count of the many times the racial slur was hurled at him.”

Blassingame said the weapons used by the crowd included flagpoles, stanchions, signs ripped from the building’s walls, water bottles and other items. 

The officer suffered head and back injuries and continues to experience pain in his back, the suit says. The events of Jan. 6 also have taken an emotional toll on him, according to his lawyers. 

“He is haunted by the memory of being attacked, and of the sensory impacts — the sights, sounds, smells and even tastes of the attack remain close to the surface,” the suit says. “He experiences guilt of being unable to help his colleagues who were simultaneously being attacked; and of surviving where other colleagues did not. The weight on Officer Blassingame has been heavy and pervasive. He was not able to sleep and he could not talk about what happened, even with his wife and friends.”

Hemby, who was stationed on the Rotunda steps on the east front of the Capitol, was pinned against the building’s doors while rioters struck him with their fists and other items they were holding while shouting “Fight for Trump!” and “Stop the steal!” according to the lawsuit. 

“Officer Hemby was attacked relentlessly,” the suit says. “He was bleeding from a cut located less than an inch from his eye. He had cuts and abrasions on his face and hands and his body was pinned against a large metal door, fending off attacks. His primary focus was to survive and simply get home.”

Hemby’s left hand and left knee became swollen and painful, the lawsuit says. He is now under the care of an orthopedic medical specialist and receives physical therapy two to three days a week for his neck and back, according to the suit.

He, too, is having trouble sleeping and “feels hyper-aware and on high alert during his waking hours.”

Both officers, who are seeking at least $75,000 each, also say they were sprayed by chemicals that “burned their exposed eyes, face, and body.”

Their lawyers, led by Patrick Malone, say in the lawsuit that the mob was spurred on by Trump’s repeated false claims about widespread fraud in the presidential election and the belief that halting Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6 was their last chance to “stop the steal.”

“The insurrectionist mob, which Trump had inflamed, encouraged, incited, directed, and aided and abetted, forced its way over and past the plaintiffs and their fellow officers, pursuing and attacking them inside and outside the United States Capitol, and causing the injuries complained of herein,” the lawsuit says.

The suit tries to use Trump’s own words against him. It notes that he said during a rally speech near the White House, “When you catch somebody in a fraud, you’re allowed to go by very different rules,” “You’ll never take back our country with weakness,” and, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. He then directed the crowd to march to the Capitol. 

The officers’ lawyers also point to statements made by prominent Republicans who have blamed Trump for the storming of the Capitol, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. McConnell said after Trump’s impeachment trial, which resulted in his acquittal in the Senate on a charge of inciting the insurrection, that “there’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.” Cheney said: “The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.”

More than 140 officers with the Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police departments were injured in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. One officer, Brian Sicknick, died shortly after the riot — a cause of death has not been determined, but two men have been charged with assaulting Sicknick with a chemical spray. Two other cops died by suicide in the days after the attack.

Trump’s office has not returned a request from Spectrum News seeking comment on the lawsuit. 

During the impeachment trial, Trump’s lawyers argued that his speech did not incite the riot and that his calls to "fight" were political speech similar to what Democrats previously have engaged in. Trump said in January of the speech: "People thought that what I said was totally appropriate.”

In an interview with Fox News last week, Trump falsely claimed the rioters posed “zero threat” and were “hugging and kissing the police and the guards.”

Trump is facing at least two other lawsuits that accuse him of inciting the riot: one by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and the NAACP and the other by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).