Police arrest more Capitol rioters as details of violence and brutality emerge

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Pro-Trump rioters storm US Capitol during vote on Biden election victory – video report

Police charged more Capitol rioters on Saturday as more graphic details of the insurrection emerged, revealing the violence and brutality of the mob that stormed a seat of US political power.

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A bloodied officer was filmed crushed in a doorway and screaming during Wednesday’s siege, which forced lawmakers to go into hiding for hours, delaying their voting to affirm Joe Biden’s election victory. Another officer tumbled over a railing into the crowd below after being body-slammed from behind. Members of the media were cursed, shoved and punched.

A vast number of photos and videos captured the riot, which left five people dead. Many of the images were taken by the rioters themselves, few of whom wore masks that would have lowered not only their chances of contracting the coronavirus but their chances of being identified. Some took pains to stand out.

Jacob Anthony Chansley, an Arizona man seen in photos and video with a painted face and wearing a costume that included a horned fur hat, was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with counts that include violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Chansley, more commonly known as Jake Angeli, will remain in custody in Arizona pending a detention hearing that will be scheduled during an initial court appearance early in the coming week, assistant US attorney Esther Winne said. Chansley did not immediately respond to messages left via email and telephone.

Chansley, a staple in his costume at pro-Trump protests across the country, is among dozens arrested in the wake of the Capitol invasion by a large mob of Trump supporters enraged over his election loss. The rioters took over the House and Senate chambers, smashed windows and waved Trump, American and Confederate flags.

A Florida man accused of making off with House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern was arrested on Friday night on a federal warrant and was being held without bail in Pinellas county, Florida. Jail records did not show if Adam Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Florida, had an attorney.

Johnson was charged with theft, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

The married father of five was quickly identified on social media as the man in a photo smiling as he walked through the Capitol rotunda carrying Pelosi’s lectern, the Bradenton Herald reported.

He posted on social media that he was in Washington DC during Wednesday’s riots and included disparaging comments about the Black Lives Matter movement, according to the Herald. Those posts were later deleted or taken down.

During Wednesday’s violence, Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick was wounded in a confrontation with attackers, reportedly struck by a fire extinguisher. He died on Thursday night. Another officer was crushed in a doorway, but it was unclear what happened to that officer, whose plight was captured on camera and shared by the progressive organization Status Coup. Members of media organizations, including the AP and the New York Times, were attacked.

By Saturday, prosecutors had filed 17 cases in federal district court and 40 in the District of Columbia superior court for offenses ranging from assaulting police officers to entering restricted areas of the Capitol, stealing federal property and threatening lawmakers.

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Prosecutors said additional cases remained under seal, dozens were being sought by federal agents, and the US attorney in Washington vowed that “all options were on the table” for charges, including possibly sedition.

Doug Jensen, an Iowa man, was jailed early on Saturday on federal charges including trespassing and disorderly conduct counts. Jensen, 41 and from Des Moines, was being held without bond at the Polk county jail. Sheriff’s Sgt Ryan Evans said he didn’t know if Jensen had an attorney.

Video posted online during the storming of the Capitol showed a man who appears to be Jensen, who is white, pursuing a Black officer up an interior flight of stairs as a mob trails several steps behind. At several points, the officer says “get back”, to no avail.

Richard Barnett, an Arkansas man shown in a widely seen photo sitting in Pelosi’s office with his boots on her desk, was arrested on Friday by the FBI. Barnett, 60, turned himself in at the Benton county sheriff’s office in Bentonville and was jailed in the Washington county detention center in nearby Fayetteville, without bond pending an initial court appearance, an FBI spokesman said. No attorney was listed.

Derrick Evans, a West Virginia state lawmaker who posted videos showing himself pushing his way inside the Capitol, was arrested on Friday by the FBI and charged with entering restricted federal property.

Evans, who faced bipartisan calls to step down, submitted a letter of resignation Saturday to West Virginia governor Jim Justice and apologized for his actions. Evans faces charges that he entered a restricted area of the Capitol after he livestreamed himself rushing into the building with a horde of Trump supporters. In the videos, Evans is seen fist-bumping a police officer and then milling around the rotunda as he shouts: “Our house!”