Florida protester rejects “domestic terrorist” label

Update: Olivia Pollock was scheduled to go on trial in Washington, D.C., on March 6. A warrant was issued for her arrest after she failed to appear in court.

Below are excerpts of an interview with Olivia Pollock, who joined thousands of Americans who streamed into Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election.

She and her brother, Jonathan Pollock, are among hundreds of people who were charged in connection with the event.

We spoke outside the Pollock home in Lakeland, Florida.

Question: So how long have you actually lived in this house?

Olivia Pollock: My whole life. I was born in the hospital and when I came home, I came home to this house and I’ve been here ever since, other than vacationing and go on trips overseas.

Question: And how old are you?

Pollock: I’m 30.

Question: So what’s it like as a kid growing up?

Pollock: Oh, it was, it was great. And my grandmother lives right up the road and aunts and uncles live all around us. And so as kids, this used to be all orange grove. And so, um, as kids, we, all the cousins would get together after school and we just run the orange groves and play and we could go to everybody’s houses and we knew our neighbors were family. So it was, it was great. Yeah. Awesome.

Question: Where are all the oranges orange trees?

Pollock: Um, there was a blight that came through, um, I guess about 10 years ago and it killed off all the orange groves in this area. There used to be orange groves everywhere, and everybody had, you know, acres and acres of orange groves and now all the orange groves are subdivisions. So, um, and ours is now a cow pasture and hay field, but yeah, it was sad, unfortunately.

Question: And so were you homeschooled?

Pollock: I was homeschooled. Yes. I was very blessed to be homeschooled. I have to say, especially seeing what they’re, what kids are having to go through in schools these days. And with, I don’t know, just all the, it’s just a lot for a kid to go through and I mean, you should be there to be learning and it’s just, they’re pushing the, the gender stuff and all the, you know. If you’re a conservative, you’re kind of looked down upon now in the school in it, it shouldn’t be that way. And so I was very blessed to have parents who decided to homeschool us and, um, and it was great cause they’re like, oh, well you won’t have, you’ll be socially awkward. And I think we were mostly more socially able to talk to people than some kids that we knew that went to school just because we grew up with adults, kind of, um. We were able to have conversations with older people and we’ve went, my grandmother used to take us into nursing homes and, um, we would play music for the, the people there. And so we were able to have conversations with older people and listen to their stories of how they grew up. And I don’t know. I think we were very blessed though, just to, to have that influence on us rather than a bunch of kids influencing kids. So it was, it was a blessing for sure.
Question: And how have you seen this area change?
Pollock: Um, a lot actually. Um, this used to be kind of out in the country. Um, as far as Lakeland, the small town, it’s definitely grown since then and become more of a, a lot more populated anyway.

Question: Had you been to protests before you went to Washington, had you ever been to a protest?

Pollock: So we’ve been to, we, I went to one Tea Party rally years ago, about eight years ago. And then, um, we went there and heard some speakers and, and then before that, other than, um, we do a rally, uh, it’s not a rally, but it’s a silent protest in October for abortion, against abortion. And so we, we I’ve done that, but other than that, not really, um, anything.

Question: It wouldn’t be accurate to say like, you’re, you’ve been a hardcore protester?

Pollock: Yeah, not at all, but this was one thing that I thought was important enough because I feel like a lot of times protests people just go out there and they act angry and they just yell and holler. And it’s just like, I don’t know, you don’t feel like anything gets done, but that’s when I felt like the American people, if we didn’t stand up now and I mean, stand up as in stand up literally and show that we don’t support what’s going on in our country, then it’s pretty much over. That’s the least we could have done was going and make our stand up and show that we don’t support the certification of election.

Question: And so it was the biggest reason to try to protest the election results?

Pollock: Yeah. So obviously, um, the election was literally stolen from us, I think. And, um, yeah, go to bed and we were watching it pretty, like it was, uh, a very important election and we were watching it very closely that night. And, um, you could even see on that we would watch like a couple of different news stations at the time and you could see they were reporting numbers and you go on the states’ websites of where they, you know, reported numbers and they’d be totally different. And then you’d have like, Trump was ahead in this state and by a lot. And then all of a sudden they stopped counting. Everybody goes to bed, you wake up and it’s totally different in the morning.

And that, I mean, yes, I’m sure they’ve been, you know, everybody said, oh, I’m not even gonna vote. My, my vote doesn’t even count anymore. And I kinda, you know, I’ve thought that for a while, just because you know, that, you know, it is a corrupt system and it’s slowly getting worse and worse, but if they are that blatant in your face that they’ve stolen it, I feel like if we don’t, if we didn’t do anything now it’s over.

If you don’t have a vote, then they can do whatever. I mean, it’s, the people are, should be able to vote in or vote out if they’re not for the people.

And if they’re able to push their narrative and push their agenda and put whoever they want in, then how are we ever supposed to get anything done? And as a conservative, I mean, I’m an, a Christian, I am against abortion. I’m against, um, yeah. I don’t think the government should tell you how to live your life. Um, yes, there needs to be laws and yes, there has to be, you know, somebody has got to run the country, but I don’t think they don’t have any business telling me that I need to get an injection or I need to go to this school. And I’m not allowed to read this book. I mean, and you see in communist countries, that’s how it started. And I feel like we’re at that point now in America. And to me, it was, this was the important one of the most important times in America, where if we let this go, and like I said before, it was, it’s not Trump or Biden.

It was the fact that it should be Democrats and Republicans alike should be worried that, okay, if you don’t have a voice, then it’s over. I mean, they can do whatever they want. And the people, the lower class people, the regular hardworking Americans who make this country run are doomed because we’ll never, you know, get our country back. If we can’t vote in or out, you know, a politician that we think is right or wrong, you know, and that’s one thing about America. That’s good. I think, I mean, that’s different than all other countries is that we do have a voice and it’s not a, not a government. That’s going to tell us how to live our life. It’s more, we are supposed to keep them accountable and there’s like our congressmen and different ones they supposed to represent us. And if they’re not, and we can vote them out. But if you don’t have a vote, how do you change anything?

Question: And what was that experience like of going to Washington?

Pollock: It was an amazing day in that, um, we get there and there’s so many people that are there for the same reasons that were there. And we don’t know these people from anywhere and it’s all these people who come with their families and their kids and pastors were there, police officers were there, former military men, vets were there. I mean, all these people from all around the world or all around the country came that day for the same reason and that they didn’t want to see their country taken from them.

Question: Did you get to see president Trump?

Pollock: We did. We stayed, we were up there by the Washington Monument, um, during the speech. We got there that morning pretty early. And we walked around and got to see them, the monuments and the, the different, um, memorials that they had there. And then, um, we made our way up by the Washington Monument and that’s where we stayed pretty much the rest of the day. And we, we saw the president speak. That was the first time I’d ever seen a president speak. So it was kind of a, uh, exciting time for me just to see the president of the United States live. That, I mean, that’s big. So yeah, it was exciting.

They’re calling us terrorists and I don’t feel like people that were there are terrorists. And, um, then when we were there, we didn’t, we stayed till the end of Trump’s speech. And then, um, we went down, then right after that, we all the crowd kind of turned and walked down to the Capitol. And our goal was to stand and protest against the certification of the election. And we just wanted a recount and we wanted people to look at the evidence and the, um, and there was no prior we’re going to go, we’re going to get in the Capitol.

We’re going to show them what the, you know, none of that, we were literally going to walk down there. We were going to stand with our flag and say that we support the Constitution, or right as First Amendment, right. To protest against something that we see as is wrong. And something that we see is taken it, being taken from us. And so, um, that’s what we did. We walked down there and, um, we didn’t walk fast or run or anything. We, it took us quite a while to get down there. I didn’t realize how far away, but, um, when we got down there, it was a mess. Like there was people she, we heard shooting, we heard, which later on we found out was, I guess they had, um, rubber bullets. They were shooting into the crowd. There was pep people being pepper sprayed. There was, um, all kinds of crazy things is going on.

And we’re like, well, what, how is this happening? We, literally, we just got, we left right after and we got down there and this is already going on. And there was blood in the street, like literally, like big, old piles of blood in the street and streaks of it all. And we’re like, what’s going on? We’re just staying. Everybody was just standing there. And so the police officers were on one side of the fence and we were on the other end and they’re literally reaching over the fence and beating people and per doing nothing. And so it got to the point where, um, I think people got so frustrated, like you’re, it’s all right to protest against something that we see as wrong. And it’s, everybody’s right as an American citizen. And if you take that, which is what they were doing, punishing us for protesting, then the least we could do is stand on the steps of the Capitol.

And so we got, that’s what we did. We stood on the steps of the Capitol. And, um, there’s all these videos of, um, like people, um, say, oh, where they’re attacking the police, they’re attacking the police. No, the police were attacking us and we’re defending ourselves pretty much from how it was. And, um, there’s, there’s pictures of me that they say I was, I was, had my fist up, gonna punch the officer. No, my fists up because they were literally hitting us in the face with batons, you put your fist, you’re not just going to take it. You’re going to put your hands up to block that you’re going to, um, protect yourself. And they’re like, oh, you need an officer. I know I was falling over from being hit and being shoved and being pepper sprayed. And, um, and so they’re spinning it to where, oh, these are terrorist, domestic terrorists.

Well, if we were a terrorist, we’re not doing our job. Right. I mean, we, we go up there unarmed with flags to terrorize. That’s not very smart as a terrorist. I mean, literally that’s what they’re calling us. And we’re kind of failing the Terrorist Department if that’s the case. And, uh, but, but it was a bunch of American people who love this country and did not want to see it go down and there’s spent, and I don’t know what happened before we got there. I don’t have a, I wasn’t there. I had no idea and well, but when we got there, it was, police were reaching over the fence, hitting people, um, pepper, spraying people. And, um, it was chaos and they had people on bull horns telling people they’ve been shot. And, and I don’t know if that just, I mean, it, it, when you tell an American citizen or a Patriot, that, okay, they’ve taken your First Amendment.

Right. And you can’t even protest anymore. I mean, your, your right to vote. And then now you can’t protest against that. I mean, that’s, you’re going to get fired up. And, and it, wasn’t the type of like, fired up, oh, I’m going to go hurt somebody. I think literally everybody there was trying not to hurt people. And, and I saw people like the police officers are in full riot gear. And, um, I don’t, I’m not going to try to mess up anybody else’s case, but those police officers were not harmed as far as like, like they’re saying we weren’t trying to harm them. And yes, some, some people did hit officers, but it, it wasn’t with the intent of, oh, I just want to beat up this officer. It was, it was almost like a self-defense thing. And, um, I, I feel like once we, when we got up there, people were, there was a couple of like, once we got, we were at the very top, up on the ledge and, and it was a thing like, are, we’re going stand on the Capitol.

We’re going to be pepper-sprayed, we’re going to be, and they had the CS gas, and it, we didn’t know what it was at a time, but it literally takes your breath away. It makes you want to like vomit. And, um, they were dumping that stuff on us. And they like every, maybe 10 minutes, they would just throw a bunch of gas on us and people weren’t doing anything other than like, standing on the steps. Once we got on the steps, then everybody kinda, we knew, I mean, we’re not dumb. There’s, if they don’t want you there, you’re not going to go. And, um, yes, they took barricades down and stuff, but it was more of a push to stand on the steps, because it’s the people’s house. We should be able to stand on our steps. And, um, if they didn’t want us to, we wouldn’t have, I think, and when we got to the top, there was people, there was police officers at the top, and we knew we weren’t going to get any, I mean, we weren’t trying to get inside or anything.

We were just trying to stand in there. And, um, they had, I mean, they have snipers all over the place. We knew they had snipers on buildings. We had snipers on the top of the Capitol. And if they didn’t want somebody to go in, no, you’re not going in. No, you’re not. And, and you have videos of police officers letting people inside the door and ushering them inside. And then once they get half of them inside, they shut the door. And then all of a sudden, it’s not okay to go inside. I mean, it was just a bunch of chaos as far as, um, on the, the officer’s side that, okay, we’re allowed inside, but then we’re not allowed inside. And then it’s just, it was so I, I know for sure it was a set up. And then especially the next morning when we got there or we woke up and we see the news and it’s already twisted total around.

And, and so that’s what, one thing we were coming from like the year before and seeing our whole, the whole year of 2020 was literally Antifa going in, BLM, going into cities and burning all entire cities, like city blocks and on fire and, um, looting and all this stuff and pulling statutes down and, and people forget, that’s what we were right coming out of. Like, that’s what we had just watched our country being terrorized. And yet that was a peaceful protest and that’s not right. And when you got people standing on the steps of the Capitol singing the national anthem, that is a terrorist act. I mean, if that doesn’t look like it’s going, I mean, that I think is what fired most people up. And that’s one thing, um, when we were in, um, when they, the FBI came to our house and, um, arrested us in the morning, then as they were questioning everybody, they’re like, okay, well, why did you wear a tactical vest?

And why were you, why were you, um, altogether and, well, we wore our tactical vests because we knew Antifa would be there. Like they had been in a month before when they had the last protest and prayed and, and my dad and a couple other guys had gone up for that, just to pray on the steps of the Capitol for our country. And, um, and then we go up there we’re like, and that they had seen them then. And so we were like, oh, well, for sure, they’re going to be there this time, trying to terrorize older people. And we’ve seen them burn down cities. So we knew they were and get away with it then yeah. We’re going to stand up for ourselves and we’re going to protect people in our group. And there was a lot of, um, older ladies and different ones and that we knew would be there and kids and stuff. And so we’re like, well, we’ll, we’ll stand and be the line between us and them. And that’s why it wasn’t oh, we’re going to wear a tactical vest so we can go into capital. No, we, we would’ve, we would’ve, that would’ve been dumb.

So, so it wasn’t, it wasn’t the fact that we were planning on having anything to do with going against the police officers or anything. Like I said earlier, we respect them and yeah. They have a job to do, but when it’s going against your First Amendment and beating people for standing somewhere, that’s that’s wrong. And, um, and yeah, that’s why we had them on, and that’s why we took them in.

Question: What happened after you got home?

Pollock: So after we got home, other than the fact that we were all very discouraged to see that on the, the, the media and everything of what they turned the narrative so fast and how they had, um, literally started cold calling us, it was, uh, an act of terrorism and it was an insurrection and we were literally shocked. And, um, but yet then we saw like, okay, and then you start hearing. So when we got home, I mean, not a whole lot changed. And, but I think it was enough to show that the American people, that, that many people were willing to stand up that day or were willing to show up in Washington that day too, because they weren’t okay with it. And so I, I don’t know. I mean, if it did any good or not, but at least people know that we didn’t sit down and take it kinda, you know, we weren’t there to hurt anybody, but we were, we were there to stand up at least show that we didn’t agree with what was going on.

And so then when we got home, it’s it’s, we, then we saw that it, it became, uh, a thing where the FBI was under of a lot of people and they just started having hotlines on how to turning your neighbors in for even being there that day. And, and that shocked me because never have in all the other, um, riots. And, you know, you didn’t see hotlines show up over this. If you seen people in the streets nationwide, hotlines of call these people in for burning cities down and looting. No, it was just, you know, and so, so yeah, there wasn’t.

Question: And then, um, what, uh, what day did the authorities come here?

Pollock: So June 30th, um, is when they showed up and it was, I don’t know what time they actually got here. It was probably about 5:30, but when they started lighting off the flash grenades everywhere, it was about six o’clock in the morning. And, um, it was still dark outside. And I, I sleep in a van cause I like to travel. So, I mean, I have a camper van that I travel around in. Um, so I have it parked in the back. And so I wasn’t in the house, but, um, I was in the van. And so when I woke up and they shot him all over the place and, um, when I woke up, I was like, oh gosh, they’re here because you’d hear, you know, I’ve heard other stories of people who had the same situation. They woke up in the morning with FBI surrounding their house like they were some kind of murderers or something, and they’re just, you know, hardworking, you know, Patriots who, who are just trying to go about their life and, um, make a living for their family. And, but yet they’re treated like, like hardened criminals. And, and so, so we were kind of, we figured it may come cause we knew we, I mean, we were there. And so, so when it happened, I’m like, oh, well, here it goes. And so I looked out my, I woke up and I looked out the door and there was literally SWAT teams surrounding our house and fully armed gunned. And, um, there was military vehicles, armored vehicles that surrounded the house and, and they were just dropping those flash bombs everywhere and over the speakers. And, and so, um, I didn’t, I don’t know what I wasn’t in the front, so I didn’t know what was going on in the front, but I knew what was in the back.

And I was like, I’m not just gonna go walking out of this van and get shot. They get on running or something. And, and, um, I think that’s what they wanted was somebody to do to, um, put up a fight or something because it was so bizarre how they just came and they could have knocked on the door, but no, they, they dropped those bombs everywhere. And then they got on the loudspeaker and you’re under arrest. We have a warrant for your arrest. And so, so I was after seeing that many people, I mean, they were all over the property. I could see all the way around except for the front. And I’m like, if I go walking to the front, which to make sure everyone was okay, they’re going to get, they’re going to probably shoot me thinking I’m running or something. And so, so I waited in the van for a little bit just to make sure I knew where everybody was.

And, and I think mom and dad had already come out of the house right away. And, um, which I didn’t know that at the time, but, um, I figured they did cause they, I didn’t hear any, um, any talking or anything. So I figured they must have come right out of the house. And um, so then, so they come around and I’m, I’m like, I’m not coming out of this man until I see arrest warrant. And I don’t think it’s, you know, you need to let somebody know why you’re, or at least while you’re why you’re arresting me. So I, I waited, I want to see arrest warrant. And so the guy’s like get out of the van and get out of the van, we’re going to send them the dogs and then they shot, shot some more of those CS gas or those, um, flash bombs under the van and ride on the van and I hit the door and, um, then they had the dogs and stuff and, and then I was like, okay, well I’m not coming out because they have dogs there and I don’t want it that he’s like, we’re going to send the dogs and we’re going to send the dogs in.

And I had my hands up and I’m like, I’m not armed. I don’t want any, but I want to know why I’m being arrested. And I wanted, I didn’t want them to be like, oh, you can just go arrest anybody. I mean, I wanted to see a warrant. And so, which I don’t know if that was smart of me, but, but that’s what I did. And, and so I had my hands up and I was like, I don’t mean anybody, any, I’m not, I’m not armed. I’m not going to do anything, but I do want to see a warrant before I step out of his van. And so they, they waived the warrant in the, in the air. And then I, I walked out and, um, and they handcuffed me and I got to the front. And, and I think the whole time I was thinking, this is wrong.

Like, especially when I got in the front and they had my parents handcuffed to the car, they had my brother and sister handcuffed. And I mean, they don’t have, they had an arrest warrant for me and my brother, Jonathan. And, um, he thankfully wasn’t here at the time, but, um, I got to the front and they had everybody handcuffed and my neighbors were on their porches, you know, looking at, I mean, it was just humiliating American people, I think. And, and, and I knew they had done this to over 500 or 500 people before me. So I’m like, wow, this many people have had to go through this and be walked out of there. And I don’t know the stories of everybody, but I know there’s other people that had the same story as us and be humiliated and to look cause I mean, you have neighbors that look onto you on your property. And you’re surrounded with, there was over 60 to 70 people here at our property for two people. And, um, when they could have knocked on the door and got us at any time, they knew they had surveillance where we worked and they had pictures of us at work.

They’ve been watching us for over us, you know, since probably February, I think. And, and, um, and it could have just come arrest us if you want to arrest, you know, but no, it it’s a show at this point. And, and you have neighbors that don’t know anything going on. I mean, you haven’t talked to neighbors, you know, houses down and they look over and they’re like, oh, well, they messed up murdered somebody. Or they must have had, I mean, that must be some kind of hardened criminal, but no, it is for a protest where you were standing on the Capitol steps and for trespassing and that’s just, that’s wrong. And then that’s overstep of the government, I believe in. And yeah, so they ha they walked me in the front and handcuffed and where I could see everyone else was handcuffed and in front of all the neighbors and they have your name over the loudspeaker, a hundred, you know, however many times they just repeat it, repeat it. And so, and they’re loud and you can hear, you can hear them for a long way away in there. And so I just, that is one thing I think is wrong. Like they don’t that uncalled for.

Question: What, what kind of impact has this had on your life?

Pollock: I mean, I’m on an ankle monitor now, so it’s kind of restricted a lot of stuff that I can’t do as far as, um, going places. Uh, I had, uh, most of my work was out of town the next, for the next year I was going to be traveling from place to place working. And, and so that’s kinda changed. I’ve had to switch all that up and, but it, and it’s kind of opened my eyes to see, um, that I guess all that I have left is to speak out against it and to try to get people to wake up and say, okay, our country isn’t okay. And we do need to stand up and start doing something about it, whether it’s running for office or, or supporting somebody who is running for the same principles as you agree with.

And, um, and that’s one thing I kinda am sick of being quiet about it and kind of as I sit back and watch they’ve had, I mean, probably over 60 people since us, that they’ve arrested and they still have people in jail, the DC jail, and, um, in a couple of other jails that are just sitting there since like February, March for trespassing is a lot of them that are all, all their charges are and, and that’s wrong. I mean, why can’t they be home with their families? Why can’t awaiting court date? I thought you were innocent until proven guilty was what it’s supposed to be and know you’re guilty until you prove yourself innocent now. And, and we, when we went to, uh, um, up against the judge, it was almost like he already sentenced us before hearing any evidence for her. Oh, you were at January 6th.

Okay. I can’t believe, you know, he was almost wanting to give us more punishment than they were even asking to give us, and, and that’s wrong with our justice system. I mean, you should be innocent until prove yourself guilty and or until they prove you guilty. And, and it’s not the case, especially with this. And I think that’s more so that we’re becoming example, like they’re trying to make examples of us. And, and part of the evidence was, oh, they took a Trump flag and they took, uh, a couple of hats and stuff. And how has that evidence against somebody who you voted for? That’s. I mean, that shouldn’t be, you shouldn’t have who you voted for, be held against you as criminal evidence and that’s that’s wrong. And so they took all of our phones and took over computers and, and they even took my mom’s office, computer, who she runs her business off of.

And she had all of her labels, all of her billing stuff, all of that. And then I think I was like, we’re not the only ones they’ve done this to how many other people, and this many people have gone through this. And I haven’t, I haven’t even thought about it. I mean, I thought about it and you know, it’s happening, but you haven’t gone out and helped them or anything. And look, if they need anything or, you know, and, and that’s one thing that I regret is not saying something earlier when I knew how they were spinning the narrative and how they were trying to make the American people look like criminals. Um, I should’ve been spoke up and it was almost like, oh, I don’t want to be arrested, but, but now that I know, oh, I was like, well, I was going to be arrested anyway.

So I might as well have been doing something good and helping these people out. And that’s, um, during that time, and that’s one thing I, I just want the people want people to know that these are good, hard working Americans who love this country. And, um, it just hurts me to see what they’re doing, and I’m not worried about myself so much. I mean, it’s not like I’m married and have a family, but these men who do have families and these ladies who have kids at home who are in prison, they’re being robbed at that time with their family and robbed of living their life before they even had a court date yet. And they’re getting solitary confinement. If they asked for, um, a private conversation with her lawyer, I mean, how are they ever supposed to get anywhere in our court case if they can’t even talk to their lawyer without having a punishment of three days, confinement, solitary, confinement? I mean, the whole thing is very, very wrong, I think.

Question: Did you have to spend any time in jail?

Pollock: I didn’t. Um, thankfully I was in the holding cell for the whole day, but that was it. They were, they released me on bail that night, um, that evening court. So I, I didn’t have the spend overnight time, but we did have a friend of ours who was in there for two weeks before they allowed him to get out on bail and he’s on house arrest and he’s not even allowed to leave his home. And, um, and he has except for work. And so, yeah.

Is one thing that I feel like our story does need to get out there just because people need to see these aren’t, we weren’t trying to take over the government. We weren’t trying to, this wasn’t a planned thing. Like we didn’t even know people got inside the Capitol until after it was over. And, um, no, none of this was planned and it was just a bunch of passionate Americans who went up there that day and, um, and stood up and from all walks of life and, and now their families are being torn apart and, and their reputation is being smothered and, or, or marred and that’s wrong.

Question: And so, um, Olivia, where were you when the officers came?

Pollock: They came, I was right here. I was sleeping in the bed. I sleep in the man and, um, I was right there. And when I looked out the window, I could see out this window and see out of that back porthole window. Um, and you could just see all the, the SWAT team creeping through the, we have a garden area over there. And then there’s a, like the chicken pen and things over there, and you see them just surrounding the whole thing. And then you see all the SWAT vehicles and the armored vehicles coming around the van and they threw the bombs were like right underneath the right, underneath the foot board here. And then right over there in the front is where they threw them. And so it, I mean, if you didn’t know better, I knew what it sounded like, but it sounds just like gunfire.

My sister sleeps or like her family’s over there and she’s got little kids. And so, um, I can’t imagine what they were thinking during that time, because it was like me. I’m not worried about it for my it’s just me. So, um, I mean, if they kill me, I’m going to heaven pretty much. And so I’m not too worried about myself, but kids. And if you have a family, I mean, that’s, that’s true traumatizing for those kids then. And that’s one thing that made me the most upset, like do with me what you’re going to do, but do it to me, don’t involve every single person in my family. And don’t, don’t mess with my nieces. That made me mad. I’ll just say that. So, so yeah, I was right here and this is where I stayed.

Yeah, it flashes. And then it, it like a big white flash and then it’s not a whole lot of smoke, but it does, it does haze it over. And so it was real early in the morning. So it was kind of dark. So you could barely see anything when they first got here. And then as the morning went on, it lit up a little bit as the sun rose, but, but yeah, you could barely see the people cause they were in all black and, um, SWAT gear and so, and camouflage. So it was, it was hard to see anybody, but yet, if you didn’t know what flash bangs were, I mean, it would be like, oh my goodness, they’re shooting at you.

It takes a lot to scare me, but if I, um, I could see how it could be very terrible, like terrifying if you didn’t, weren’t used to any kind of loud noises or that kind of scared you, but I, I think God kind of put a peace over me personally when I was here. And so I really didn’t have that fear that I would have expected to have. And so I think God kind of put a peace over me and was like, okay, act calmly. And, and so I, I can honestly say I wasn’t really terrified for my life or anything. Um, but it, like I do wake up at night and think, I hear like, oh, oh, they’re here again, kind of thinking. So, and so, yeah. I mean, especially if you had kids or if you’re, uh, a wife or a father, you know, it would be very traumatizing.

Question: So your father tells me those are your chickens.

Pollock: Um, they are, my sister has chickens and I have chickens. Yep. We’ll just take a look at it. Those ones over there are mine and these ones are hers. Hers look a little bit better than mine, but yeah, they have rabbits, chickens.

Question: So have you always had animals growing up?

Pollock: Um, we have, we’ve always kind of, we were taught to kind of live sustainably. Like we try not to just be consumers. We need to provide our own food and not rely on somebody else to, to do it for us. So we’ve always had chickens and, um, we have pigs and beef cows and, um, stuff like that. So we do, we used to raise meat, chickens, and we’ve done like a hundred and the day before. So me and my sisters kind of did most of that. We would, we would put your, all the chickens and we didn’t freeze them and eat them through the year. And the same thing with, um, we do a lot of hunt, hog hunting, and so all of our sausage and all of our ham and that kind of stuff comes from stuff that we’ve butchered.

Question: So growing up, what kinds of stuff did you do around here?

Pollock: Okay. So this one, when I was younger, all of this pasture area and all the way up to like those far trees, you can see over, there was all orange groves. And so growing up, we, we would help, you know, do our chores and stuff. And then we pretty much played in the orange groves and we’d have orange fights and, um, run around barefoot and that kind of stuff. And we just, we had our chores, we knew we had to do our chores. And then after that, we pretty much, if our school was done, we could go play. And we played in the, outside is where we like to be. We played outside all the time.

Question: So it wasn’t one of those childhoods playing video games.

Pollock: We had, we, we were able to play video games a little bit, but I never liked them there. That’s not my thing. I like to have results after I’m done with all this work. And if you play a video game and you play all day, then you have nothing to show for it today. So video games, aren’t my thing. But, um, we were, we played a little bit, but most of the time we like to be outside.

(She displayed her ankle monitor) So yeah, that’s this one is, mine is a little Bedazzled, but I kind of customize everything I get. So that is kind of what I put on it. But this is, there’s a battery pack that goes on top of them. Um, and then it has to plug into the wall and every night I have to charge it. So yeah, so it, it sends a GPS signal to the people who, your agent, whoever’s in charge of you. And then they know exactly where you are all the time. So it’s not much different than a phone in your pocket, but you know what I mean? But you are very restricted as far as you have to come back to your house at night and charge it up. So there’s no traveling.

You can go out and work. I can go out and work. Yes, thankfully, um. My friend, friend of ours is he stuck on house arrest so he can work, but he has to report every place he goes. And, um, and he has to, he’s like only allowed to get food and gas stations and he’s gotta be home at a certain time and not allowed to go outside of his house and not even on his porch. Like it’s a little bit ridiculous.

Question: So do you have, do you have to sleep with that thing on?
Pollock: Yeah. It never comes off, so it stays on forever and you shower with it. So, so yeah, you’re stuck until we have court, I guess.

Question: Did they give you a court date?

Pollock: No, we don’t have a court date yet, so we have another status hearing coming up. But then other than that, they said, they’re probably not even going to have the first one of the guys that they got back in. I think February was when he was arrested. Won’t even have a court date until January mid January will be his. And so he that’s a year. That’s ridiculous. So, and yeah, so they’re just, they’re just holding us.