Michael Lockwood, a participant in last year’s Trump-incited Capitol riot, was recently arrested and charged with several federal criminal offenses, including interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding police.
Those two charges alone — both felonies — come with a combined total of more than 10 years in prison if found guilty. (Because there was physical contact, the assault charge carries eight years, and the civil disorder offense comes with a possibility of five years.) A court filing made in Lockwood’s case indicates he engaged in physical altercations with police outside the Capitol building on the structure’s western side. There, he took a baton from an officer on the city police force after a brief physical struggle. Although he is on camera walking away with the baton in his hands, it’s not immediately clear what he did with it, and his list of charges doesn’t include a theft offense.
The court filing says FBI investigators conducted a facial recognition search after examining publicly available footage of portions of the attack on the Capitol and zeroing in — in part — upon Lockwood’s confrontation with the officer, whose name isn’t included in the document. Two prior arrests came back — the nature of which the court document doesn’t specify, and from there the investigation turned to a Facebook account evidently identified with some of his same details. An image on the account shows its owner wearing a hat just like what Lockwood wore during the assault on the Capitol, helping authorities confirm it was, in fact, him. Agents also consulted his grandmother, asking for her help in confirming it was Lockwood in (relatively clear) images from the Capitol.
“On or about January 26, 2022, the affiant contacted JW, who had been identified as LOCKWOOD’s grandmother,” as the agent explained. “JW positively identified the following images, taken from the BWC and depicting the person who took the baton from Officer “1”, as LOCKWOOD.” The filing then includes a series of pictures showing who authorities determined was the defendant. A copy of the arrest warrant for Lockwood indicates it was issued in October but only just recently executed. According to the info on the page — signed by the same agent who prepared an affidavit in support of his arrest, authorities picked up Lockwood in a northern Ohio city on December 15. His charges also include trespassing and disorderly conduct offenses.
Image: Brett Davis/ Creative Commons
