Rioter Who Beat Cop With Stolen Baton Gets Five Years

March 26, 2024 Extremists, Trump cultists

From the Justice Department:

A Colorado man was sentenced to prison today after he was convicted of three felonies related to his conduct during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

Jeffrey Sabol, 53, of Kittredge, Colorado, was sentenced to 63 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $32,165.65 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras.

Sabol was convicted of three felony charges following a stipulated bench trial before Judge Contreras on Aug. 18, 2023, including obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, federal robbery, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting.

According to court documents and the stipulated facts, Sabol traveled from his home in Colorado to Washington, D.C., to attend the “Stop the Steal rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, and watch then-President Donald Trump speak.

Sabol traveled with several other individuals who were members of a self-described “neighborhood watch” group. Before leaving, the group members discussed what to bring with them. On the advice of one group member, Sabol packed a helmet, a trauma kit, a buck knife, and zip ties.

Following the rally, Sabol and others in the group approached the U.S. Capitol building. Sabol ended up on the West Plaza, separating from others in the group, and put himself at the front of a line of rioters confronting police officers.

At approximately 2:04 p.m., in a coordinated effort, Sabol and another rioter pushed a third rioter—who himself was holding a riot shield—from behind, propelling him forward and up a set of steps, so that the rioter with the shield ran into the line of police.

As the officers attempted to repel the rioters pushing against the police line, Sabol kept pushing forward and slammed into a riot shield held by a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officer.

Court documents say that Sabol continued pushing against the line of officers until a United States Capitol Police (USCP) officer pushed him back, causing Sabol to fall down a set of steps.

Sabol later made his way to the front of the mob of rioters confronting the police line on the west side of the Capitol building. While there, Sabol again ran toward the line of officers and, in an attempt to break through, used two hands to push against a riot shield held by one of the officers.

Sabol and the other rioters succeeded in breaking through the police line. Over the next few minutes, the police were forced to fall back, and the rioters flooded onto the south side of the West Plaza.

Court documents say that the rioters backed the police up against the wall supporting the Inaugural stage. At approximately 2:33 p.m., Sabol saw two other rioters attempting to pull away an officer’s baton, and Sabol reached in to assist the rioters.

Approximately 30 seconds later, Sabol and another rioter grabbed at a helmet visor held by an MPD officer. Sabol and the other rioters engaged in a tug of war with the officer over the visor.

Over the next two hours, Sabol ascended from the West Plaza to the entrance of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. The Tunnel was the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement on January 6th.

Rioters at the Tunnel battled police officers for hours as they attempted to storm the Capitol building. Police retreated inside the Tunnel to protect an entrance to the Capitol building. By approximately 3:20 p.m., Sabol was present in the mob amassed in the Tunnel as an MPD Officer was pulled off of the police line and into the crowd by rioters.

At approximately 4:27 p.m., an MPD Officer was positioned toward the opening of the Tunnel when a co-defendant charged at and knocked the officer to the ground.

While the officer was lying supine on the ground attempting to defend themself, Sabol reached for the officer’s baton, grabbed it, and ripped it out of the officer’s hands.

Court documents say that Sabol used such force in wresting the baton away from the officer’s grasp that the officer’s torso was lifted off the ground, and Sabol himself fell backward down the steps of the Lower West Terrace.

Sabol then climbed back up the steps, moved towards the Tunnel entrance, and assisted two rioters in dragging a law enforcement officer down the steps and into the mob, where the rioters beat the officer with a flagpole and a baton.

In the days following Jan. 6, 2021, Sabol deleted text messages and other communications from his cell phone. He also asked another individual to delete a “selfie video” that depicted Sabol immediately after he had been pepper sprayed and in which Sabol stated that he had “tried to rush the front gate, the front door.”

Sabol also destroyed his laptop computers in a microwave oven and dropped his cell phone into a body of water.

Sabol also booked a flight to Zurich, Switzerland, in an attempt to flee the United States. When he was unable to board the aircraft, he rented a car and drove toward Westchester, New York, where the FBI arrested him on Jan. 11, 2021.

Read the full press release.



Tags

© joemygod.com 2024