An overview of the Lehigh County prison, where retired firefighter Robert Sanford was due to appear in connection with the US Capitol riots before a federal judge in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on January 14, 2021.
Mark Makela | Reuters
A retired Pennsylvania firefighter was arrested and charged Thursday with riot-related crimes at the January 6 Capitol, where he allegedly threw a fire extinguisher that hit three Capitol police officers in the head.
Robert Sanford, 55, was identified by a friend as the man in a video widely seen throwing the fire extinguisher at a group of police surrounded by a wild mob of supporters of President Donald Trump in front of the Capitol, officials said.
Officers hit in the head did not include Officer Brian Sicknick, the officer who died a day after being beaten by protesters.
The friend told the FBI on Tuesday that Sanford, who recently retired from the Chester Fire Department, informed him that he was being sought out as the attacker on the video, according to a document released by the prosecutor in Washington.
Sanford also told his friend that he had traveled to Washington, DC, with a group of people on a bus to attend a rally on January 6 at Ellipse, where President Donald Trump spoke and asked his supporters to help him with his efforts to reverse Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, the document said.
The group, including Sanford, “then followed the president’s instructions and went to Capitol,” the document said.
At the time, Congress was holding a joint session to confirm Biden’s election as president.
Sanford, who lives in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, is accused of intentionally entering or staying in any restricted building or land without legal authority, disorderly or disturbing conduct on capitol lands, civil disorder and aggression, resistance or impediment to certain officers while involved in the performance official functions.