A retired police officer in New York, who was once part of the security details in City Hall, is charged Tuesday with assaulting a police officer with a metal flagpole during the January 6 riot for Trump.
The former officer, Thomas Webster, was on duty, according to a New York City police officer who secured the mayor, Gracie Mansion and City Hall. He retired from power in 2011.
Mr. Webster, 54, a former Marine, surrendered to the FBI on Monday and has been charged with six counts of assaulting a Metropolitan Police Department official in Washington, DC, and his involvement in the violent attempt. to prevent Congress from certifying the outcome of the presidential election.
A federal prosecutor said there were videos of Mr. Webster attacking the Washington officer, first with a metal flagpole that had previously waved a Marine Corps flag, and then with his bare hands.
According to court documents, the former Marine, after the officer took the flagpole of Mr. Webster wrestled, tackled the officer, pinned him to the ground, sat him down and tried to rip off his face shield and gas mask – an attack that left the officer. unable to breathe.
“These videos shock the conscience,” prosecutor Benjamin A. Gianforti said. He said that Mr. Webster showed a total lack of compassion and that he pursued the officer he attacked ‘like a litter dog’. The government did not immediately identify the officer.
Among the most serious charges that Mr. Webster faces is violent assault of a United States officer with a dangerous weapon, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Mr. Webster has appeared before a federal magistrate’s judge in White Plains, NY, and does not dispute that he appeared in three separate videos of the January 6 attack.
Webster’s lawyer, James Monroe, said his client had traveled to the Capitol to protest legally because he considered the election unfair. The lawyer said Mr. Webster acted in self-defense after the officer punched him.
“He went there as an American citizen to protest, an opportunity instigated by our former president – to protest against a cause that Tom felt very strongly about,” he said. “It protects the Constitution.”
Mr. Gianforti said he saw no evidence in the videos that Mr. Webster was not beaten before the assault by the officer.
Mr. Webster, who is married with three children, owns a gardening business in Florida, NY, about 40 miles from New York called Semper Fi Landscape and Design – named after the Marine Corps motto. He has never been arrested before.
He surrendered himself at the Capitol almost seven weeks after the riot and almost a month after the FBI posted photos of him online, saying he was asking the public for help in identifying him.
In a court hearing Tuesday, Judge Andrew E. Krause agreed with the prosecutor that the videos he saw about the actions of Mr. Webster, was shocking.
Judge Krause acknowledged that Mr. Webster was an exemplary citizen before Jan. 6, saying he found it difficult. But he said that Mr. Webster’s “proud and impressive record” as a civil servant makes the video of his attack on the officer all the more disturbing.
Finally, the judge said that the ‘undercurrent of political hostility’ that apparently caused a person with a previously exemplary life to act violently did not disappear, and Mr. Webster can still be considered a threat to public safety. He ordered that he be held without bail pending another trial.
In another case related to the riots on January 6, a district leader of the Republican Party in Queens – who referred to himself on Facebook as “the Republican messiah” – is accused of being one of the rioters at broke into the Capitol.
According to court documents, district leader Philip Grillo was captured on surveillance video entering the Capitol through a broken window. He faces charges of entering a restricted building and interfering in government affairs.
Mr. Grillo, 46, was arrested Monday near his girlfriend in Glen Oaks, Queens. He was released on $ 100,000 bail, with his trip restricted to New York, Long Island and Washington to appear in court.
Mr. Grillo, a proud supporter of mr. Trump, on his Facebook page, referred to the 24th convention district where he is the local Republican Party leader as ‘President Trump’s hometown district’. He appeared before a federal magistrate’s judge in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
District leaders are unpaid party officials who help register party members, recruit candidates and make sure their parties are represented on election day.
Eric Ulrich, a Republican member of the New York City Council, representing a district south of Mr. Grillo represented in Queens, said he was really shocked and disappointed by the allegations.
“If the charges he faces are true, he should be held accountable,” Ulrich said. “Everyone involved in the uprising must be held accountable.”
William K. Rashbaum and Troy Closson reported.