- Ryan Stephen Samsel of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was charged in the Capitol riot on Saturday.
- A criminal complaint accuses Samsel of assaulting a police officer and causing her to lose consciousness.
- The FBI says Samsel took the police officer and said to her, “We don’t need to hurt you, why are you disturbing?”
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A man accused in the Capitol riot was accused of attacking a policeman and causing her to lose consciousness during the insurrection.
A criminal complaint opened on Monday says Ryan Stephen Samsel of Bristol, Pennsylvania, has been accused of assaulting, resisting, opposing, preventing, intimidating or interfering with a police officer, trying to obstruct a police officer and obstruct an official process.
Federal investigators included several images from a video taken during the insurrection, which shows a man they identified as Samsel leading a group of protesters toward a police barricade on Capitol Hill, moments before protesters in support of former President Donald Trump violated the building on January 6.
“After taking off his jacket, Samsel pushed and pulled the barricades until the crowd successfully pushed the barricades over the police,” says the complaint. “In the process of pushing the barricades to the ground, Samsel and others dropped [the US Capitol Police officer] as the crowd lifted the barricades and advanced towards the Capitol, causing [her] head to hit the stairs behind her, resulting in a loss of consciousness. “
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An image shared in the criminal complaint shows Samsel catching the unconscious policeman, who has not been publicly identified.
According to the criminal complaint, Samsel said to the policeman, “We don’t need to hurt you, because you’re on our way.”
The criminal complaint says Samsel later tried to take a riot shield from another Capitol police officer.
The policeman who lost consciousness was taken to a safe place, but hours later, while arresting another rowdy, she passed out and passed out, the criminal complaint says.
She was then taken to an emergency room where health officials diagnosed her with a concussion, the complaint says.
Samsel was arrested on Saturday after FBI agents compared his images with images in police databases.
It is unclear whether he is still in custody, but a criminal history check found that Samsel is also wanted in Riverside, NJ, on charges of assault dating back to 2019, the FBI said.
Samsel is one of more than 200 people accused of the Capitol insurrection, in which five people died, including a Capitol police officer.