Federal authorities announced last week the arrest of a man from South Carolina accused of participating in the assault on the U.S. Capitol in early 2021 spurred by lies from then-President Donald Trump about the 2020 elections.
Defendant Justin Daniel Perrou is accused of engaging in extensive attacks on police throughout the day’s chaos, and his charges include assaulting, resisting, or impeding police with a deadly or dangerous weapon, which comes with up to 20 years in prison. Perrou’s arrest, notably, took place more than three years after the Capitol riot itself initially unfolded. In other words, federal authorities remain hard at work.
After allegedly using a bullhorn to yell obscene remarks at police officers defending the Capitol and then throwing the item at cops, Perrou allegedly began throwing other objects as well, including what authorities identified as a “long pole” and a folding chair. Some such items used against police that day appeared to originate inside the Capitol building, passed back outside by riot participants. Other evident sources included, besides Capitol rioters’ own preparations, commandeered police equipment and items picked up outside the Capitol, where construction had been underway for the then-upcoming presidential inauguration and where police tried to use metal bike racks for a barricade.
“Perrou then allegedly obtained two law enforcement-issued chemical irritant sprayers. Court documents say that he handed one to another rioter and sprayed the other directly at police,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for Washington, D.C., added. In total, Perrou’s charges include five felony counts alongside misdemeanor allegations.
Though the maximum time in prison associated with the assault charge is just that: a maximum rather than a set outcome, precedent drawn from other Capitol riot defendants’ cases suggests that Perrou could still end up with a lengthy, years-long stint in prison if he’s eventually found guilty or admits to the offense.
