LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) – An Arkansas man was accused Thursday of beating a police officer with a flagpole with a US flag during last week’s US Capitol riot., according to court documents.
In an arrest statement filed on Thursday in Washington’s federal court, an FBI agent said that Peter Francis Stager is shown on video and photos hitting a fallen policeman repeatedly with the flagpole after protesters dragged the policeman down the west stairs of the Capitol.
Confidential informants recognized Stager in videos and photos of the rebellion and alerted authorities, who accused Stager of interfering with police during a civil unrest, according to the statement.
Stager was in custody on Thursday, said Allison Bragg, a public prosecutor in Little Rock, Arkansas. She referred all questions about the arrest to the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, where a spokesman did not immediately return a message on Thursday.
No lawyers were listed for Stager in the court records.
Stager is the second Arkansas resident to be arrested and charged with participating in the January 6 attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump supporters who left five dead, including a police officer. A detention hearing is scheduled for Friday in federal court in Little Rock for Richard Barnett, 60, from Gravette, Arkansas, who remains in federal custody after his arrest on charges that included illegal entry into a restricted area with a lethal weapon – in this case, a stun gun.
The FBI identified Barnett as a photographed riot sitting in the chair of Mayor Nancy Pelosi’s office during the Capitol uprising. He surrendered to federal agents on January 8.