A Lebanese man was accused of breaking into the police trying to protect the Capitol building on January 6 in Washington, DC
Kyle Fitzsimons, 37, was arrested Thursday in Maine, according to documents filed with the US District Court in Portland.
He is the first Maine resident to be charged with connection to the riot.
Fitzsimons reportedly twice accused a line of Metropolitan Police Department officers who managed to fight him. One hit Fitzsimons on the head with a baton, according to the FBI deposition filed with the federal court.
Fitzsimons never entered the Capitol, but was taken to a local hospital, where he received six stitches to close the head wound.
He is charged with four federal crimes: intentionally entering or staying in a restricted building or land without legal authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on the United States Capitol, assaulting a federal official and attempting to obstruct law enforcement during a civil unrest . A civil disorder could be the obstruction of any “function protected by the federal government”, including the counting of the electoral votes of the November election by Congress on January 6, according to the deposition.
Fitzsimons’ first court hearing has not been defined.
He reportedly admitted to attending the events at the Capitol during a Zoom meeting of the Lebanese City Council on January 7. Fitzsimons also gave an interview to Rochester Voice, an online newspaper in New Hampshire.
Fitzsimons said he attended a rally in the morning, when then President Donald Trump asked his supporters to continue working to overturn the election results that determined that President Joe Biden had won the election.
“The morning speeches openly preached that the election was not over, there was a path to victory through decertification, there was a plan to delay certification by the Chamber and Senate and then the state legislatures would convene and (certify) the right result, ”Fitzsimons told the newspaper.
Fitzsimons also reportedly posted or asked for messages to be posted on the Lebanon Maine Truth Seekers page on Facebook. A notice on December 24 said that he was going to Washington, DC, on January 6. He asked other people to join him, said the statement.
The Facebook post also said: “I saw the flags. I know that there are Mr. Trump supporters in the city. I am also seeing flags that the election was stolen and that we are slowly moving towards Chinese property in an establishment that is a traitor and very willing to make the public believe that the theft was somehow the will of the people. “
As soon as Fitzsimons appears before a judge in Maine, the case will be transferred to Washington, DC
According to information compiled by George Washington University, 158 men and 23 women were charged with the attack until Thursday. Fitzsimmons and Brian P. McCreary, 33, of North Adams, Massachusetts, who was also arrested on Thursday, are not included in that count.
If convicted, Fitzsimons faces up to eight years in federal prison and a fine of up to $ 250,000 on the most serious charge of assaulting an officer.