A Michigan Trump supporter is facing 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to dragging an officer down the steps of the U.S. Capitol before using the base of a flagpole to assault other officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
As reported by Detroit Metro Times, Capitol rioter Logan Barnhart, 41, of Holt, admitted he was part of a mob that assaulted officers at the archway leading to the building.
Barnhart, a bodybuilder, “climbed over a banister to reach the steps, where he grabbed an officer by the neck of his ballistic vest and dragged him down the steps and into the crowd, where other rioters beat the officer with weapons, including a flagpole and baton,” the report states.
Moments later, as rioters were slamming riot shields into the line of police officers, Barnhart struck the officers with the base of a flagpole.
Before his arrest on Aug. 17, 2021, the FBI had been trying to identify Barnhart for months. But Sedition Hunters, a group of online sleuths who team up to help identify insurrectionists, helped track him down using a facial recognition website. They found Barnhart on Instagram and bodybuilding websites. They then passed the information to the FBI.
Barnhart faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on March 9.
Since the riot, more than 870 people have been arrested and more than 265 have been charged with assaulting police officers during the deadly insurrection.