An Arkansas man stormed the Capitol waving the US flag and used its pole to beat a police officer, said a federal grand jury. He faces up to 40 years in prison.

Sophia Ankel
Updated ·2 min read
peter stager
Peter Francis Stager, 41, is filmed in front of the Capitol building in Washington DC, on January 6, 2021. Eric Feigl Ding/Twitter


  • Peter Stager was among a group of Trump supporters who were dragging an officer down the Capitol stairs.

  • A federal jury indicted Peter Stager of Conway, Arkansas on a total of seven charges.

  • Stager is accused of using a dangerous or deadly weapon to "forcibly assault, resist, impose, impede, intimidate and interfere with an officer."

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A Capitol rioter who used a flagpole to beat a police officer on January 6 could be facing jail time of up to 40 years, according to a federal indictment released Wednesday.

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia indicted Peter Stager, 41, of Conway, Arkansas, on seven charges, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

Stager is accused of using a dangerous or deadly weapon to "forcibly assault, resist, impose, impede, intimidate and interfere with an officer," the indictment said, according to Newsweek.

The charge combined with another against Stager -"obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting" - can carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.

An FBI criminal complaint, cited in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, said Stager was part of a mob of Trump supporters scuffling with police officers on the steps of the Capitol building on January 6.

"Some of these individuals were throwing and swinging various objects at the group of law enforcement officers," the affidavit states, according to Newsweek.

The group ended up "dragging" a Metropolitan police officer, who was only identified in the document as B.M., down the Capitol stairs.

"These individuals forced B.M. into a prone position on the stairs and proceeded to forcibly and repeatedly strike B.M. in the head and body with various objects," the complaint said.

According to the affidavit, the FBI was able to confirm that Stager was beating the police officer with a flagpole after reviewing two videos that had appeared on Twitter.

One of the videos, posted below, shows Stager speaking to a reporter during the event.

"Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor," he says in the video. "Death is the only remedy for what's in that building."

Stager was first arrested on January 14 in Conway Arkansas.

A growing number of rioters are being charged with more serious crimes in the aftermath of the Capitol insurrection, which resulted in the deaths of five people.

More than 250 people have been charged so far. Here is a full table of all the charges.

Read the original article on Business Insider