NC man arrested Thursday helped lead the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, FBI says

Joe Marusak
·2 min read
3

A 36-year-old North Carolina man was arrested Thursday after video showed him lead rioters to force open the Senate Wing doors at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors said.

David Paul Daniel of Mint Hill was charged with the felony offenses of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and civil disorder, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.

FBI agents arrested Daniel in Mint Hill, Matthew Graves, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a news release. He becomes at least the 32nd North Carolinian to be charged in the Jan. 6 attack.

Daniel didn’t return a phone message from The Charlotte Observer on Thursday.

According to court documents, Daniel and another person led the push against the barricaded Senate Wing Door and the police officers who tried to keep the doors closed about 2:45 p.m. that day.

Daniel, who was identified as wearing a gray beanie hat, eventually forced the door open, along with others, according to a criminal complaint filed against Daniel by an an unnamed FBI agent.

He was then sprayed with a chemical irritant but minutes later climbed over a pile of broken furniture and out of a broken Senate Wing Door to the outside of the building, according to the complaint.

The FBI says this screen shot from U.S. Capitol Police closed-circuit video shows David Paul Daniel, now without his hat, at the front of a group of rioters carrying out a violent reentry into the Capitol through the Senate Wing door at 2:48 p.m. Jan. 6, 2021.
The FBI says this screen shot from U.S. Capitol Police closed-circuit video shows David Paul Daniel, now without his hat, at the front of a group of rioters carrying out a violent reentry into the Capitol through the Senate Wing door at 2:48 p.m. Jan. 6, 2021.

At some point during the assault, Daniel lost the gray beanie from his head, the FBI agent said.

Daniel soon reentered the building for a few minutes before leaving the Capitol through the broken window, prosecutors said. His actions were captured on closed circuit video, Graves said.

The riots disrupted the joint session of Congress where electoral votes were being counted for the 2020 presidential election. The count certified Joe Biden as the winner over Donald Trump.

Daniel also was charged with the misdemeanor offenses of entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; willfully and knowingly engaging in an act of physical violence in the grounds or any of the Capitol buildings; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

Daniel joins at least 1,200 others from all 50 states who’ve been charged in connection with the Capitol breach, which caused $2.7 million in damage.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.