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A former New York City police officer who assaulted police during the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol in Washington was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison, the harshest sentence handed down in connection with the attack.
Thomas Webster, 56, a 20-year NYPD veteran who also served in the Marine Corps, was found guilty in May of assaulting a Washington D.C., officer during the chaotic gathering. He was captured on video hitting the officer with a flag pole during the uprising as supporters of former President Donald Trump sought to overturn his 2020 election loss.
“As a former Marine and retired police officer, Thomas Webster could readily see the growing dangers to law enforcement when he and other members of the mob targeted the Capitol on January 6th,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves. “He chose to escalate the situation, brutally going on the attack. Today’s sentence holds him accountable for his repeated attacks of an officer that day.”
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Thomas Webster, a former NYPD officer, was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
(Thomas Webster DOJ)
Webster, who was seething in rage, was calling the police officer a “f—king piece of s—t” and a “Commie motherf—ker,” federal prosecutors said.
A federal jury rejected arguments that Webster acted in self-defense.
“I too wish you hadn’t come to Washington, D.C. I too wish you had stayed at home in New York … that you had not come out to the Capitol that day, because all of us would be far better off. Not just you … your family … the country,” D.C. federal Judge Amit Mehta reportedly said during sentencing.
Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died after Trump supporters attacked the Capitol building as Congress was certifying President Biden November 2020 election victory.
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Webster retired from the New York Police Department in 2011 and was assigned to a uniformed detail that protected both City Hall and Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, a police source said.
