Police accused more Capitol protesters on Saturday, including a man who stole the pulpit from the House spokesman as more graphic details of the uprising emerged, revealing the violence and brutality of the crowd that invaded a seat of American political power.
A bloodied officer was crushed at a door screaming in the siege on Wednesday, which forced lawmakers to hide for hours and interrupt their voting to claim President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Another officer fell over a handrail in the crowd below, after being hit from behind. Media members were cursed, pushed and punched.
A large number of photos and videos captured the rebellion, which left five people dead. Many of the images were taken by the protesters themselves, few of them wore masks that would have decreased not only their chances of getting the coronavirus, but their chances of being identified. Some struggled to stand out.
Jacob Anthony Chansley, an Arizona man seen in photos and videos of the crowd with his face painted and wearing a costume that included a horned fur hat, was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with charges including violent entry and disorderly conduct in the Capitol.
Chansley, better known as Jake Angeli, will remain in custody in Arizona pending a detention hearing that will be scheduled during an initial court hearing early next week, Assistant Prosecutor Esther Winne told the Associated Press by email. Chansley did not immediately respond to messages left over email and phone.
Chansley, who had become a major figure in his attire in pro-Trump protests across the country, is now among dozens of people arrested in the wake of the Capitol invasion by a large crowd of Trump supporters enraged by his electoral defeat.
The rioters occupied the House and Senate chambers, smashed windows and waved Trump, American and Confederate flags.
A Florida man accused of escaping from the Pelosi pulpit during the chaos was arrested Friday night with a federal warrant and was held without bail on Saturday in Pinellas County, Florida. The prison records do not show whether Adam Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Florida, has a lawyer.
Johnson was charged on Saturday with theft, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
The married man, father of five, was quickly identified on social media by local residents as the man in a photo smiling as he walked around the Capitol roundabout carrying Pelosi’s pulpit, the Bradenton Herald reported.
Johnson posted on social media that he was in Washington, DC, during the riots on Wednesday and included derogatory comments about the Black Lives Matter movement, according to The Bradenton Herald. These posts were later deleted or taken down.
During Wednesday’s violence, Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick was injured in a confrontation with attackers and was reportedly hit by a fire extinguisher. He died on Thursday night. Another police officer was crushed at a door, but it is not clear what happened to that policeman, whose situation was captured by the camera and shared by the progressive organization Status Coup. Members of media organizations, including the AP and The New York Times, were also attacked.
On Saturday, prosecutors had filed 17 cases in the federal district court and 40 others in the District Court of Columbia for a variety of crimes, ranging from assaulting police officers to entering restricted areas of the United States Capitol, theft of federal property and threats to legislators.
Prosecutors said other cases remained sealed, dozens of others were being sought by federal agents and the United States attorney in Washington promised on Friday that “all options were on the table” for charges, including possibly sedition.
Other notable prisons in the Capitol invasion include:
– Doug Jensen, an Iowa man, was arrested on Saturday morning on federal charges, including trespassing and charges of disorderly conduct, for his alleged role in the Capitol riot. Jensen, 41, of Des Moines, was held without bail at Polk County Jail and the county sheriff’s sergeant. Ryan Evans said he did not know if Jensen had a lawyer. The video posted online during the attack on the Capitol showed a man who appears to be Jensen, who is white, chasing a black officer down an internal flight of stairs while a crowd of people follows a few steps behind. At various times, the officer says “come back”, to no avail.
– Richard Barnett, an Arkansas man who was shown in a widely seen photo sitting in the office of Mayor Nancy Pelosi, with her boots on a table after the Capitol attack, was arrested on Friday by the FBI. Barnett, 60, turned himself in to FBI agents at the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in Bentonville, Arkansas. He is being held at the Washington County Detention Center, near Fayetteville, Arkansas, without bail while reporting to the court, said Little Rock FBI spokesman Connor Hagan. No lawyer is listed in Gravette, Arkansas online prison records, man.
– Derrick Evans, a West Virginia lawmaker who posted videos online showing himself making his way inside the Capitol, was arrested on Friday by the FBI at his home and accused of entering restricted federal property. Evans, who faced bipartisan calls for him to resign, submitted a letter of resignation on Saturday to West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and apologized for his actions. Evans faces charges that he entered a restricted area of the United States Capitol after having broadcast himself running to the building with a horde of enraged Trump supporters. In the videos, Evans is seen hitting his fist on a policeman and then turning around the roundabout while shouting, “Our home!”
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Callahan reported from Indianapolis. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Paul Davenport contributed to this report.