Army soldier charged with assaulting police officer with a flagpole during Capitol riot

2024-12-25 21:17:55 source:lotradecoin guide category:Finance

A U.S. Army soldier has been arrested in Hawaii on charges that he repeatedly struck a police officer with a flagpole during a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol more than three years ago, according to court records unsealed on Wednesday.

Alexander Cain Poplin was arrested on Tuesday at Schofield Barracks, an Army installation near Honolulu. Poplin, 31, of Wahiawa, Hawaii, was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday.

The FBI received a tip in February 2021 that Poplin had posted on Facebook about attacking police during the Capitol riot. Poplin wrote that “we took our house back” and “stood for something,” according to an FBI task force officer’s affidavit.

In July 2024, the FBI investigator interviewed Poplin’s military supervisor, who identified him in a photograph showing him wearing an Army camouflage backpack inside the restricted area of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Poplin attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6. He joined the mob of Trump supporters who gathered at the Capitol, where lawmakers were meeting to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

RELATED COVERAGE Ex-CIA officer who spied for China gets 10 years in prison — and a lifetime of polygraph tests Maui’s toxic debris could fill 5 football fields 5 stories deep. Where will it end up? Hawaii can ban guns on beaches, an appeals court says

On the Capitol’s Lower West Plaza, Poplin carried an “Area Closed” sign in his left hand and a flagpole bearing a blue flag in his right hand. A video captured him repeatedly striking a Metropolitan Police Department officer with the flagpole, the FBI affidavit says.

Poplin was arrested on a complaint charging him with five counts, including felony charges of interfering with police during a civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding police with a dangerous weapon.

An attorney assigned to represent Poplin at Wednesday’s hearing in Hawaii didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the charges.

Nearly 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Many rioters were military veterans, but only a handful were on active duty on Jan. 6. Approximately 140 police officers were injured in the attack.

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed.

More:Finance

Recommend

SCDF aids police in gaining entry to cluttered Bedok flat, discovers 73

The body of a 73-year-old woman was discovered in her Bedok home on Wednesday (Dec 11), after a neig

Putin says talk of NATO troops being sent to Ukraine raises the real threat of a nuclear conflict

Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Thursday to fulfill Moscow's goals in Ukraine and st

Trove of ancient skulls and bones found stacked on top of each other during construction project in Mexico

Archaeologists working on a site in Mexico found ancient skulls and bones stacked on top of each oth