Police attacked American faces 20 years in prison for storming the Capitol

A man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for several attacks on police officers during the January 2021 riot at the US Capitol building.

A man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for several attacks on police officers during the January 2021 riot at the US Capitol building. The Californian was accused of attacking police officers with flagpoles and other weapons. Friday's sentence is one of the highest in connection with the riots.

Prosecutors described the man, who already had a criminal record, as one of the most violent members of the group of supporters of former President Donald Trump who attacked the Capitol building on the day President Joe Biden's election victory was certified.

The convicted man was accused of kicking police officers in the head. He had also used batons against officers defending a tunnel, according to the public prosecutor's office. He had hit a police officer on the head with a metal crutch and attacked police officers with pepper spray and broken pieces of furniture. The man had climbed on other troublemakers and used them as "human scaffolding" to get to police officers. The man injured at least two police officers.

The man had pleaded guilty in January to charges of assaulting police officers with a dangerous weapon. Before he received his sentence, he apologized to the police.

A longer prison sentence

So far, only the former leader of the Proud Boys group, Enrique Tarrio, has received a longer prison sentence in connection with the attack on the US Capitol building. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison on the accusation that he had orchestrated a plot to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to Biden.

In total, more than 1,400 people have been charged with criminal offenses in connection with the riot at the US Capitol building. More than 900 of them were found guilty.

dpa