Feds: Man in riot tried to flee country

NEW YORK — A Colorado geophysicist accused of dragging a police officer down steps to be beaten by an American flag outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was ordered held without bail Friday after a prosecutor said the man afterward tried to flee to Switzerland and kill himself.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Krause said during an electronic hearing that Jeffrey Sabol, a 51-year-old born in Utica, N.Y., needed to remain behind bars as a danger to the community and a risk to flee. Sabol was arrested Friday morning at the Westchester Medical Center.

After the attack, the prosecutor said, Sabol booked a flight from Boston Logan International Airport to Zurich, Switzerland, where he would not be able to be extradited to the U.S.

Sabol’s lawyer, Jason Ser, argued for his client’s release on $200,000 bail, saying the actions by his client were not as clear cut as they had been described by a prosecutor.