A retired Pennsylvania firefighter has been arrested and is now charged with throwing a fire extinguisher at police during the deadly mob attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters last week.
According to court documents filed Thursday, 55-year-old Robert Sanford of Chester, Pennsylvania, is facing federal crimes, including assaulting a police officer, after authorities identified Sanford in footage of a man throwing a fire extinguisher at police.
“The video was taken from an elevated position and showed an area of the Capitol with a large group of police officers surrounded on at least three sides by a group of insurgents,” the indictment said.
According to court documents, the footage shows the fire extinguisher hitting an officer with a helmet before ricocheting and hitting an officer without a helmet. The object will bounce back and hit a third officer in the head. That officer was wearing a helmet.
The incident was unrelated to an ongoing investigation into the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after allegedly being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher during the January 6 riot.
Sanford, who recently retired from the Chester Fire Department, according to court documents, was also charged with disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, civil disorder and unlawful entry into the Capitol.
Authorities said earlier this week the FBI asked the public to help identify a man in video footage wearing a hat with the letters “CFD.” A friend who knew Sanford was at the Capitol during the riot contacted the police after seeing the FBI photos.
According to The Associated Press, Sanford should go to federal court Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon, although authorities said the case will be prosecuted in Washington, DC
Court documents did not indicate whether Sanford currently has a lawyer to represent him.
The Justice Department has so far brought more than 70 criminal cases in connection with last week’s pro-Trump riot that took place at a joint meeting of Congress to certify the president-elect Joe Biden
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Five people died in the chaos, including Sicknick and a woman who was shot by a plainclothes officer. Three others died of “medical emergencies” near the Capitol.