A Colorado man accused of assaulting a U.S. Capitol officer with a long wooden plank as hundreds of rioters breached the building on Jan. 6 was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, a federal judge ruled late last week.
Jacob Travis Clark of Trinidad also faces a year of supervised release once his prison sentence is complete and must pay a $180 fine, according to court records posted online Monday from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Clark was ordered to serve time for six charges, including the obstruction of an official proceeding and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building. He is the latest Coloradan to be sentenced for his involvement in the Jan. 6 riot.
The piece of wood struck Capitol police officer Cameron Sikurinec in his groin and he fell to the ground in pain, watching the violent mob rush past him, Sikurinec wrote in a victim impact statement filed Friday.
Images from inside the Capitol, included in court documents, show Clark holding a two-by-four piece of lumber several feet long. Sikurinec, who was on duty Jan. 6, 2021, said Clark struck him with the plank as Clark forced his way inside.
“The image of that board coming at me frequently replays in my mind,” Sikurinec wrote. “There was no time to react. I think constantly of my fellow officers who were near me. They were in danger too. I know we don’t speculate in the court of law, so I’m not asking the court to make a decision based on ‘what ifs’. I just want to relate what I think about all of the time. That image will never go away. If the board struck just 2 and half feet higher, would it just have knocked me over or worse?”
He said he believed Clark should receive consequences for his actions, addressing Clark directly in his statement.
“You were part of a crowd that engaged in what I describe as a medieval Viking style battle with law enforcement officers outside and inside our nation’s Capitol. This far exceeded the boundaries of the First Amendment, and immediately turned to criminal activity,” Sikurinec wrote.
“I don’t view this as patriotic or reasonable human behavior. It is certainly not how Americans should act against fellow Americans, especially ones that are there to protect you.”