Social media 'detectives' falsely accuse retired Chicago firefighter of partaking in Capitol riot

A retired Chicago firefighter was falsely accused of being a member of the mob that stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6.

Twitter was full of unsubstantiated claims on Tuesday that Quintavalle, who retired from the fire department in 2016, was the "#extinguisherman" in a video wearing a "CFD" stocking cap wanted for questioning by the FBI, according to The Patch.

Quintavalle shaved his beard before Christmas and told The Patch that he wasn't in Washington, DC, last week. He went grocery shopping with his wife at 9 am and then made a home-cooked dinner to celebrate his wife's birthday. Their son, a Chicago police officer, joined them for dinner in their home on Jan. 6.

Quintavalle told The Patch he had receipts from a trip to Home Depot to prove his whereabouts along with other evidence that his lawyer gave to the FBI on Wednesday to clear his name.

Quintavalle said that he doesn't have social media accounts and learned of the accusation from a friend.

"I got a phone call from a friend who said, 'You should see what they twittered about you,'" Quintavalle told The Patch.

"Some woman from British Columbia showed the [surveillance] picture of the guy wearing CFD stocking cap and a beard like I've had, and file footage when I was protesting the city inappropriately scoring the fire lieutenants exam, and said, 'This is the guy.' And the ball started rolling. Everybody started saying, 'Here's the guy.'"

The false accusation quickly spread across social media platforms. Users began posting details about Quintavalle's personal life, including his appearance at a "Walk To Support CPD" rally in August to support his son and the Chicago police.

Attorney John Nisivaco told The Patch that by Tuesday night, Quintavalle began getting calls saying he's a "f*cking murderer" who belongs in jail. TV news reporters were at his house. Chicago police sent a unit to keep an eye on the house overnight. Many of the accusatory tweets have since been deleted, however some remain. Some of the accounts that posted the lie have been suspended.

Nisivaco said on Wednesday that he presented the FBI and US Justice Department with evidence that Quintavalle is not the person depicted in the video at the Capitol.

"I expect the federal government will soon shed light on this case of mistaken identity," Nisivaco told The Patch.

"Social media has killed David Quintavalle. This has been an absolute disaster to him personally and his family. There's a cop car outside his house. It's over a picture that kind of looks like him because people sitting behind a keyboard with no proof or evidence are throwing out these tweets, and they're wrong. Holy smokes, it's eye-opening how terrifying social media can be when something like this happens."

On Thursday, the FBI announced Robert Sanford, 55, of Chester, PA, had been arrested and was facing three federal felony charges including assaulting a police officer after he was allegedly identified as the person who lobbed a fire extinguisher on the west side of the Capitol, as the mob pushed past a line of Capitol police officers around 2:30pm and marched towards the building on Jan. 6.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the extinguisher that Mr. Sanford allegedly threw was not the one that killed Officer Brian Sicknick, who according to officials was also struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the riot and later died from his injuries.

Sanford is facing charges of using a deadly weapon in a restricted area, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and obstructing law enforcement, The Journal reported.