Long arm of the law
Recently a Florida Keys couple became the latest to be arrested for taking part in the mayhem that ensued under the direction of Donald Trump, a failed coup attempt by his followers.
On Tuesday, Bryan Roger Bishop, 51, and his wife, Tonya, 47, were arraigned in federal court in Key West, accused of being part of that violent mob on Jan. 6.
The FBI found its most recent suspects on their live-aboard vessel in Marathon. Pretty remote, but the feds still found them. Well done.
The arrests of the Bishops, so many months after the crime was committed, signals the depth, length and breadth of the federal government’s push to locate and prosecute anyone who stormed the Capitol. And they should. It sends the message that the rest of the country will not tolerate insurrection.
So far, more than 100 Floridians have been arrested for taking part; most are from Central or North Florida, and some are linked with extremist groups like Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
The unprecedented violent insurrectionists attempted to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. Lawmakers went into hiding; five people died.
How the Bishops avoided capture for so long is unclear. But they now are among the more than 1,000 people the FBI has relentlessly tracked down by dissecting police cam videos, security footage and photographs from that day and charged with crimes.
Bryan Bishop is accused of spraying a chemical irritant in the face of two Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department officers trying to contain the riot, leaving one of them temporarily blind in the middle of the chaos.
Tonya Bishop was also photographed under a cap. She is accused of trespassing in the Capitol and faces charges of entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct in the Capitol, and parading “and demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.”
There should be no dispute that the Capitol riot was an attack on the foundations of American democracy. Charging those allegedly involved, including the Bishops, ensures that such lawlessness does not go unpunished.