A Colorado Springs man was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison federal for assaulting police officers as they tried desperately to defend the U.S. Capitol from the violent Jan. 6 rioters.
Jonathan David Grace, 49, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $5,000 in fines, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton ruled in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Grace pleaded guilty to a felony assault charge in October, court documents show.
Investigators said Grace was part of the mob who entered a tunnel where officers were lined up as they tried to force the crowd back. In surveillance footage, Grace can be seen putting his head down and using his body to push in unison with other rioters against the police line, authorities said.
As Grace and the other rioters pushed, one of the officers screamed in pain as his body was smashed between a shield and a metal door frame, in one of the most harrowing scenes from the riot, court documents said.
Grace remained in the tunnel, fighting police officers, for nearly an hour, investigators said.
After officers were able to clear the tunnel, Grace watched as other rioters dragged a Metropolitan Police Department officer out of the tunnel and attacked him, according to court documents. Grace then re-joined the rioters pushing against the police line and only retreated after officers sprayed a chemical irritant at the crowd.
Grace faced up to eight years of prison time and a fine up to $250,000 for assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, court documents said. Grace agreed to help authorities in their ongoing federal investigation as part of his plea agreement.
Grace was arrested in Colorado in March and is one of at least 1,265 people who were charged in the riot, which interrupted the certification of the 2020 Electoral College count and left more than 100 officers injured, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
At least 19 people from Colorado have been charged for their involvement in the breach, many of whom have received sentences for their crimes, while others await trials.