WashingtonOn Wednesday, a Wyoming man was given a 40-month jail sentence for using a flagpole to strike law enforcement during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Douglas Harrington, 69, of Bedford, Wyoming, was found guilty of several felonies and misdemeanors in connection with the Capitol hack that interfered with the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court sentenced Harrington to 24 months of supervised release and $2,000 in reparations. In connection with his conduct on Capitol property, he was convicted of five misdemeanor counts and two felonies, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers and civil disorder.
Court filings state that Harrington carried Trump 2020 and American flags on a long metal pipe when he arrived to the Capitol wearing a military-style rucksack, a respirator mask, and a cowboy hat. On the Upper West Terrace, he walked up to a row of police officers and struck one of them with the metal flagpole. Harrington increased his behavior by hitting another officer with the flagpole on the helmet and wrist after being doused with chemical irritants.
Harrington retreated into the throng after continuing to swing the pole at the officers. Later, he joined other protesters in blocking cops’ view as they advanced with a huge opaque object. Harrington reportedly shoved against a riot shield and grabbed at a baton in an attempt to thwart authorities’ attempts to disperse the protesters. Police eventually removed him from Capitol grounds just before the 6 p.m. curfew issued by the mayor of Washington, D.C.
Harrington was arrested by the FBI on August 8, 2023, and identified as BOLO (Be on the Lookout) #470. The investigation and prosecution were carried out by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney s Office for the District of Columbia, and the Department of Justice s National Security Division. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the U.S. Capitol Police all contributed.
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