Trump Rioter Who Fought With Police Caught & Arrested By Feds

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A Capitol rioter who fought with police has been arrested and charged with felony offenses. The newly arrested individual is Thomas Patrick Hamner, a 48-year-old resident of Colorado who was apparently among the first of the violent demonstrators to arrive at the Capitol grounds. Hamner was among those engaged in physical struggles with police well before rioters even breached the building. Now, he is facing criminal charges including civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, adding to the list of over 200 rioters who’ve been arrested for assaults on police in some form. Those individuals are among the overall total of more than 675 rioters who have been arrested amid the sweeping investigation.

As explained by a Justice Department press release, “at approximately 1 p.m. on Jan. 6, a crowd of violent rioters assembled on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. U.S. Capitol Police formed a line of bike racks to act as a barrier against the crowd. Officers fended off repeated attempts by the rioters to pull on the bike racks, either with their hands or with ropes and straps. Video footage depicts Hamner fighting with officers from the U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department over one such police barricade on the West Plaza.” Later on, Hamner “joined other rioters in pushing a large metal sign into the defensive line formed by law enforcement,” per that same press release.

Felony offenses such as the ones with which Hamner has been charged carry the potential of significantly longer prison sentences than those that have been doled out in misdemeanor cases connected to the Capitol riot so far. Scott Fairlamb — another Capitol rioter, who pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting police — is facing a request from prosecutors for a sentence of 44 months (or almost 4 years), in addition to 3 years of supervised release, although his exact sentence is ultimately up to the judge, who in this case is Royce Lamberth. In a separate slew of cases (involving misdemeanor offenses), federal Judge Tanya Chutkan has repeatedly opted to impose sentences for rioters that were stricter than what prosecutors requested, so going above prosecutors’ recommendation in these matters isn’t without precedent. Fairlamb was set for sentencing on Wednesday.