Sep 1, 2022 - Politics & Policy

NYPD veteran sentenced to 10 years in prison for assaulting officer on Jan. 6

Jacob Knutson

Police and rioters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A judge sentenced Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, to 10 years in prison on Thursday for assaulting an officer during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot with a metal flagpole, AP reports.

Why it matters: It is the longest sentence given out so far over charges related to the 2021 assault, surpassing the previous sentence of 87 months shared by two other Jan. 6 rioters.

Federal prosecutors sought a sentence of 17 years and six months for Webster, according to AP.

The big picture: Webster was found guilty by a jury of assaulting an officer on Jan. 6 with a deadly weapon and five other charges in May, also becoming the first Capitol rioter to be tried on an assault charge.

Webster argued during the trial that the officer instigated the confrontation.
The Department of Justice said earlier this week that more than 860 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the riot, including over 260 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

Go deeper: Jan. 6 rioter pleads guilty to assaulting Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick

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NYPD veteran sentenced to 10 years in prison for assaulting officer on Jan. 6

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