New York Man Who Grabbed Officer’s Pepper Spray on Jan. 6 Pleads Guilty
The New York Times
Troy Weeks was at “the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement” during the U.S. Capitol riot, prosecutors said.
An upstate New York man who grabbed a police officer’s can of pepper spray as he and other supporters of former President Donald J. Trump rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has pleaded guilty to federal felony and misdemeanor charges, prosecutors said on Friday.
The man, Troy Weeks, was part of the mob that was on the building’s Lower West Terrace, “the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement” during the riot, prosecutors said.
Mr. Weeks, 38, of Greenville, pleaded guilty to felony charges of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, as well as to misdemeanor counts that included disorderly and disruptive conduct and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, prosecutors said.
Lawyers for Mr. Weeks did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
More than 1,400 people have been criminally charged in the three years since supporters of Mr. Trump stormed the Capitol in an effort to disrupt the certification of President Biden as the winner of the 2020 election, the Justice Department said in a news release.
About 500 of the defendants have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, according to federal prosecutors. Mr. Trump himself faces federal charges for what prosecutors say were his efforts to subvert voters’ will in 2020. He has pleaded not guilty.
