Jan. 6 defendant who beat officer with flagpole during Capitol riot sentenced to over 4 years in prison

An Arkansas truck driver who beat a police officer with a flagpole holding an American flag through the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot was sentenced Monday to over 4 years in jail.

Peter Francis Stager struck the Metropolitan Police Division officer along with his flagpole at the least 3 times as different rioters pulled the officer, head first, into the gang exterior the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The bruised officer was amongst greater than 100 cops injured through the riot.

Decide Rudolph Contreras sentenced Stager to 4 years and 4 months in jail, in response to a spokesperson for the prosecutors’ workplace.

Stager, 44, of Conway, Arkansas, pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of assaulting police with a harmful weapon.

Prosecutors had really helpful a jail sentence of six years and 6 months.

The Justice Division’s assertion of info says that the uniformed officer, who was making an attempt to forestall the mob from breaching the Capitol, was dragged by a gaggle of people, together with Stager, and “dragged him down the steps of the Capitol constructing.” The assertion additionally stated they “compelled [the officer] right into a inclined place on the steps and proceeded to forcibly and repeatedly strike [him] within the head and physique with numerous objects.”

Stager additionally stood over and screamed profanities at one other officer, who was critically injured when a number of different rioters dragged him into the mob and beat him, in response to federal prosecutors.

After the beatings, Stager was captured on video saying, “Each single a type of Capitol legislation enforcement officers, demise is the treatment. That’s the solely treatment they get.”

A confidential supply quoted by prosecutors within the assertion of info stated that Stager advised him that he did not know the person he was hitting with the flagpole was a cop, and he thought the person was ANTIFA. However the supply confirmed investigators a Twitter thread with a photograph of the officer mendacity on the steps of the Capitol, surrounded by the people. “Clearly current on B.M.’s uniform, throughout his again, are the phrases ‘METROPOLITAN POLICE,’ the assertion famous.

Stager assaulted the officer throughout probably the most violent episodes of Jan. 6 — a battle between rioters and police guarding an entrance to the Capitol constructing in a tunnel on the Decrease West Terrace. His actions on the Capitol “had been the epitome of disrespect for the legislation,” prosecutors stated in a court docket submitting.

“Stager joined a protracted, multi-assailant assault on cops, which resulted in accidents to the officers,” they wrote. “Stager himself wielded a flagpole and used it to strike at a susceptible officer, who, mendacity face down in a mob of rioters had no technique of defending himself.”

Stager’s truck driving job had taken him to Washington, D.C., on the eve of then-President Donald Trump’s “Cease the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. Stager stayed in a single day to attend Trump’s rally after delivering a load of produce, a call that he’ll remorse for the remainder of his life, his attorneys stated in a court docket submitting.

His attorneys argued that Stager tried to assist others within the crowd who had been injured after the riot erupted. Shocked by what he noticed, Stager had “reached his breaking level” and was “seeing purple” when he picked up a flag on the bottom, they stated.

“As soon as the adrenaline wore off, Mr. Stager instantly referred to as his spouse to inform her he was horrified by his actions and that he was going to show himself in upon returning to Arkansas,” his attorneys wrote.

Greater than 1,000 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot. Over 620 of them have pleaded responsible. Roughly 100 others have been convicted by juries or judges after trials. Almost 600 have been sentenced, with over half receiving phrases of imprisonment starting from three days to 18 years.

Stager was indicted with eight different defendants on fees associated to the tunnel battle. 4 of his co-defendants even have pleaded responsible to assault fees.

Florida resident Mason Courson was sentenced in June to 4 years and 9 months in jail. Michigan resident Justin Jersey was sentenced in February to 4 years and three months in jail. Michigan building employee Logan Barnhart was sentenced in April to a few years in jail. Georgia enterprise proprietor Jack Wade Whitton is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 16.