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Tag: metropolitan police department

  • Veteran NYPD Cop Convicted Of Assaulting Officer In Capitol Rebel

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal jury on Monday convicted a New York Police Division veteran of assaulting an officer all through the U.S. Capitol rebellion, rejecting his declare that he used to be protecting himself when he tackled the officer and grabbed his fuel masks.

    Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, used to be the primary Capitol rebellion defendant to be attempted on an attack rate and the primary to provide a jury with a self-defense argument.

    Webster, 56, testified that he used to be making an attempt to give protection to himself from a “rogue cop” who punched him within the face. He additionally accused the Metropolitan Police Division officer, Noah Rathbun, of instigating the disagreement.

    Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or pick out a struggle with Webster as a violent mob attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, disrupting Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over then-President Donald Trump.

    Webster’s jury trial used to be the fourth for a Capitol rebellion case. The primary 3 defendants to get a jury trial have been convicted of all fees of their respective indictments. A pass judgement on determined two different circumstances with no jury, acquitting one of the vital defendants and partly acquitting the opposite.

    A grand jury indicted Webster on six counts, together with a rate that he assaulted Rathbun with a perilous weapon, a steel flag pole. Webster wasn’t accused of coming into the Capitol on Jan. 6.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s previous tale follows underneath.

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Jurors deliberated on Monday within the federal trial of a New York Police Division veteran charged with assaulting an officer who attempted to give protection to the Capitol from an attacking insurrectionist mob final yr.

    Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, is the primary Capitol rebellion defendant to be attempted on an attack rate and the primary to provide a jury with a self-defense argument.

    Jurors heard legal professionals’ last arguments on Friday and went house for the weekend about half-hour after you have the case. They returned to courtroom on Monday morning.

    Webster’s jury trial, which began April 26, is the fourth for a Capitol rebellion case. The primary 3 defendants to get a jury trial have been convicted of all fees of their respective indictments. A pass judgement on determined two different circumstances with no jury, acquitting one defendant and partly acquitting the opposite after bench trials.

    Webster, 56, is charged with assaulting Metropolitan Police Division Officer Noah Rathbun with a perilous weapon, a steel flagpole, all through the Jan. 6, 2021, rebellion.

    Movies display Webster swing his steel flagpole at police, rate at Rathbun after which take hold of the officer’s fuel masks with each arms.

    Webster testified on Thursday that he used to be making an attempt to give protection to himself from Rathbun after the officer punched him within the face. Webster additionally accused Rathbun of constructing a hand gesture that Webster perceived as a call for participation to struggle.

    Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or pick out a struggle with Webster. Rathbun’s frame digicam captured Webster shouting profanities and insults sooner than they made any bodily touch. Rathbun mentioned he used to be looking to transfer Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and different officials have been suffering to take care of.

    Prosecutors prompt jurors to reject Webster’s self-defense argument and convict him of all six fees in his indictment.

    Webster, who lives close to Goshen, New York, retired from the NYPD in 2011. He served within the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 sooner than becoming a member of the NYPD in 1991.

    The violent Jan. 6 mob, dependable to then-President Donald Trump, stormed the Capitol in an try to overturn the 2020 presidential election, undercut the country’s democracy and stay Democrat Joe Biden from changing the Republican within the White Area.

    Greater than 780 other people had been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Division says greater than 245 of them had been charged with assaulting or impeding regulation enforcement.

  • Swastikas Scrawled On Union Station In Washington, D.C.

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Vandals scrawled swastikas at the outdoor of Union Station, the central hub for regional educate transportation within the country’s capital.

    The graffiti used to be found out Friday, at some point after World Holocaust Remembrance Day, with crude Nazi symbols marked on columns around the entrance of the large development and several other clustered across the escalator front to the underground D.C. Metro.

    Metropolitan Police Division Leader Robert Contee mentioned the investigation can be led through the Amtrak Police, who maintain safety for the development. However Contee indicated that investigators have been taking a look at probably the most a number of folks experiencing homelessness who incessantly camp across the development.

    “It seems that it can be one among our unhoused citizens who did this, in line with some knowledge that has been published,” Contee mentioned. “The one that did this … may just rather well have some psychological well being demanding situations.”

    A safety guard at the scene identified that a number of of the swastikas have been in spots that have been in complete view of the development’s safety video cameras.

    Amtrak spokeswoman Kimberly Woods mentioned an investigation is underway. “Amtrak strongly condemns this act of hate and can paintings with our landlord, USRC and their lessor to take away those symbols as briefly as conceivable,” Woods mentioned in a commentary.

    Via noon, group of workers had begun to hide the swastikas with sheets of white paper secured through blue tape.

    The Jewish Federation of Better Washington posted a commentary on Instagram, calling the timing “specifically offensive” and added, “This anti-semitic and hateful image has no position in our society.”

    It’s unclear whether or not the relationship to World Holocaust Remembrance Day used to be intentional. Contee mentioned his division have been involved with native Jewish group leaders.