Charges filed for assault on Capitol police officer News
© Wikimedia (Tyler Merbler)
Charges filed for assault on Capitol police officer

Federal officials arrested two men on Monday for assaulting police officer Brian Sicknick during the riots at the Capitol on January 6. Sicknick later died from the injuries.

According to the criminal complaint, Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of West Virginia, were caught on video “working together to assault law enforcement officers with an unknown chemical substance by spraying officers directly in the face and eyes.” The complaint also alleges that Khater and Tanios are seen on video striking Sicknick and two other officers in the face. The government does not allege in its complaint that the injuries to Sicknick caused by Khater and Tanios are the same injuries that caused his death.

Khater and Tanios are both charged with several federal crimes. They are charged with violating 18 USC §§ 111(a) and (b), which make it a crime to, with a deadly or dangerous weapon, assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere a federal law enforcement officer. They were also charged with violating 18 USC § 372, which makes it a crime to conspire to injure or impede an officer of the US on account of his or her lawful discharge of the duties of his or her office. Additional charges include entering the Capitol with the intent to impede government operations, engaging in an act of violence on the Capitol, and interference with a law enforcement officer.