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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – An Arkansas man was charged on Thursday with beating a policeman with a pole flying an American flag in last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents.
In an arrest affidavit filed in federal court in Washington on Thursday, an FBI agent said Peter Francis Stager was shown in video and photographs repeatedly hitting a police officer lying with the pole after rioters dragged him officer on the west stairs of the Capitol.
According to the affidavit, confidential informants had recognized Stager in riot videos and photographs and alerted authorities, who accused Stager of interfering with law enforcement officials during a civil unrest.
Stager was in custody Thursday, said Allison Bragg, spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Little Rock, Arkansas. She referred all questions about the arrest to the U.S. prosecutor’s office in Washington, where a spokesperson did not immediately return a message on Thursday.
No lawyer has been listed for Stager in court records.
Stager is the second Arkansas resident to be arrested and charged with participating in the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump loyalists that left five people dead., including a policeman. Detention hearing scheduled for Friday in Little Rock Federal Court for Richard Barnett, 60, from Gravette, Arkansas, who is still in federal custody after his arrest on charges that included illegal entry into a restricted area with a lethal weapon – in this case, a stun gun.
The FBI has identified Barnett as a rioter pictured sitting in the office chair of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Capitol Uprising. He surrendered to federal agents on January 8.
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