Ex-police officer jailed for 10 years

A retired New York Police Department officer was sentenced yesterday to a record-setting 10 years in prison for attacking the US Capitol and using a metal flagpole to assault one of the police officers trying to hold off a mob of Donald Trump supporters.

Thomas Webster’s prison sentence is the longest so far among roughly 250 people who have been punished for their conduct during the riot on January 6, 2021. The previous longest was shared by two other rioters, who were sentenced separately to seven years and three months in prison.

Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran who had retired in 2011, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a self-defence argument.

A jury rejected Webster’s claim that he was defending himself when he tackled Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun and grabbed his gas mask outside the Capitol on January 6.

US District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Webster, 56, to 10 years in prison plus three years of supervised release. He allowed Webster to report to prison at a date to be determined instead of immediately ordering him into custody.

“Mr Webster, I don’t think you’re a bad person,” the judge said.

“I think you were caught up in a moment. But as you know, even getting caught up in a moment has consequences.”

Webster turned to apologise to Rathbun and said he wishes he had never come to Washington, DC. “I wish the horrible events of that day had never happened,” he said.

The judge said Rathbun wasn’t Webster’s only victim on January 6.

“The other victim was democracy, and that is not something that can be taken lightly,” Mehta added. Also yesterday, a New Jersey man pleaded guilty to using pepper spray on police officers, including one who later died.

Officer Brian Sicknick suffered a stroke the day after the riot and died of natural causes. Julian Khater, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon.