Although the Justice Department investigation into the events of January 6 is at advanced stages in certain areas, brand-new arrests of individual rioters are continuing.
On Tuesday, the department announced the arrests of two Illinois brothers in their 50s who participated in the Trump-incited Capitol riot, where both assaulted police. One of the brothers, 55-year-old Daniel Leyden, participated in a push against cops that left one officer temporarily knocked unconscious, and his charges include assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon — a felony offense that comes with up to 20 years in prison if guilty, although shorter sentences are certainly possible. The officer who went unconscious suffered a concussion. The other brother, 56-year-old Joseph Leyden, got into a physical altercation with an officer with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. “Joseph Leyden advanced and rushed towards an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department,” authorities say. “He then lunged at and pushed the officer.”
Both Daniel and Joseph were set to make initial appearances in federal court on Tuesday. For his physical assault against an officer, Joseph was charged with the felony offense of assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers. Both brothers were also charged with interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, which is a felony, and four misdemeanor offenses.
The highlighted incident in which Daniel participated occurred relatively early in the afternoon, shortly after 12:50 p.m. — before riot participants breached the Capitol building itself. Near what’s known as the Peace Circle, which is on a path to the Capitol building, Daniel and other riot participants “repeatedly lifted and pushed a metal barricade,” the department says, which left a U.S. Capitol Police officer pinned under the barricade. The barricade was constructed in part with metal bike racks that were linked. “At the same time, several other officers were also assaulted by the rioters with the barricade, including one who was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion,” the department adds. Although the description makes it sound as though it might be difficult to connect an individual rioter to an individual officer’s injuries, the department notes that what Daniel did “contributed” to officers’ injuries. The impacts on police didn’t compel Daniel to stop — he and other rioters pushed past officers once they were able to do so.
Images included in a court filing associated with Daniel’s case indicate he was right at the front of the crowd of rioters pushing the barricade against officers and leaving one pinned beneath the metal racks and another with a concussion. In other riot-related news, five more rioters were found guilty this week, including three who were found guilty of charges of assaulting police. That group included Texas man David Lee Judd, who participated in pushes against officers in the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the Capitol, where he lit what was seemingly a firecracker and hurled it towards cops. The tunnel is a perceptibly claustrophobic area on the Capitol grounds where rioters tried to use the collective force of their bodies to push past officers in a so-called heave-ho motion involving the crowd rocking back and forth. Judd will be sentenced in February of next year.
