Wheat Ridge man arrested for assault
A Wheat Ridge man is facing several federal felony charges after the FBI arrested him Wednesday for allegedly assaulting a police officer at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Matthew James Melsen, 34, is charged in the U.S. District of Columbia with felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and civil disorder, as well as several misdemeanor counts related to entering the U.S. Capitol and engaging in violence on Capitol grounds and buildings, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“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,” the news release stated.
Court records state police body-worn camera video from Jan. 6 shows Melsen about 2:15 p.m. arrive at the bike rack barricades separating a crowd of rioters from the U.S. Capitol on the West Plaza, according to the news release. Melsen was wearing a black hat that read, “Keep America Great.”
Seconds after arriving, Melsen reached over the barricades and pushed a Metropolitan Police Officer, who responded by pushing Melsen away from the barricade. “Melsen then charged at the officer with both hands outstretched and pushed the officer in the chest,” the news release states. “Melsen was again pushed back toward the crowd and was sprayed with (pepper) spray.”
Melsen then moved away and into the crowd and wasn’t seen again until an open-source video shows him just before 4 p.m. making his way onto the inaugural stage approaching the archway at the mouth of the lower west terrace tunnel.
“The tunnel was created by the construction of the inauguration stage and the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement on January 6,” the news release states.
“Rioters at the tunnel battled police officers for hours as they attempted to storm the Capitol.”
Inside the tunnel about 3:55 p.m., a police officer tried to stop a rioter from climbing into the tunnel by prodding the rioter with a long stick, but that rioter and Melsen grabbed the stick and held it until it broke, according to the news release.
The other rioter then used the broken part of the stick to “forcefully strike the officers’ shields several times while yelling, ‘LET US IN,’” according to the news release.
A few seconds later, another officer tried to use his baton to stop the rioter from attacking the first officer, but Melsen tried to grab the officer’s baton to prevent him from using it.
The U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s counterterrorism section are prosecuting Melsen’s case. Melsen made his first appearance in the U.S. District of Colorado.