- A Capitol riot suspect was filmed hitting a police officer with a flag then hurling it like a spear.
- The Department of Justice released footage it says shows Jeffrey McKellop injuring the captain.
- McKellop, pleaded not guilty to 12 charges including assault.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
The Department of Justice has released footage from the Capitol riot in which a man hits a police officer in the face with a flagpole, then throws it like a spear.
The incident left the victim, a police captain, with cuts to his face.
Prosecutors say that Jeffrey McKellop, an ex-Special Forces soldier, assaulted multiple DC police officers on January 6 during the failed insurrection in Washington DC. He pleaded not guilty to assault, per the Justice Department.
-Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) July 20, 2021
The riot occurred when hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to overturn the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. A total of 73 Capitol Police officers and 65 DC Metropolitan police officers were injured. One officer, Brian Sicknick, was killed.
The man in the video – whom prosecutors say is McKellop – is seen approaching the police officer, who is wearing a white shirt. He picks up a flagpole from the ground and shoves it towards him.
He then launches the flagpole at the officer, which caused a laceration near his left eye, according to an FBI affidavit filed in March.
The affidavit said that McKellop also assaulted three other officers in the same vicinity.
McKellop was arrested in March. Prosecutors said they identified McKellop after the riot by publishing photographs of him on the FBI’s website. Two people told the FBI that McKellop was a retired US Army Special Forces soldier and a military contractor who lived in Virginia.
The Department of Justice released footage of the incident, which was recorded by another officer’s bodycam, on Tuesday after CNN sued for access.
McKellop has been charged with multiple federal crimes, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, inflicting bodily injury, and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
It was not immediately clear what McKellop’s defense is. His lawyers have previously cited his Army service as evidence of his good character in earlier hearings seeking to secure his bail, which he was denied.
The affidavit said that McKellop wore a U.S. Army Special Forces badge on his backpack during the riot, which helped to identify him.
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