Burgettstown man accused of attacking Capitol police officers during Jan. 6 riot
Suspect arrested Wednesday more than three years after assault on Congress
A Burgettstown man was arrested Wednesday on federal charges accusing him of striking police officers with a metal pipe and throwing objects at them during the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol more than three years ago.
Joshua Lee Atwood, 31, is accused of throwing water bottles and other objects – including a metal flagpole that he allegedly slung like a javelin – at police officers guarding a tunnel leading into the Capitol building, where members of Congress were certifying the presidential election for Joe Biden.
Court documents show that Atwood was arrested in the Burgettstown area Wednesday after being indicted Monday on numerous charges filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
In addition to throwing objects at police, the indictment claims Atwood used a wooden pole to strike a D.C. Metro police officer on the helmet and face shield before throwing it at other officers, striking their protective equipment. He also allegedly commandeered a police officer’s riot shield to protect himself, while also using it as a weapon, according to court documents.
“Every one of you should be ashamed of yourself,” Atwood could be heard telling the police officers in a video recording of the riot. “Every one of you (expletives) are pieces of (expletive). Betraying your country like this, why would you betray your country? Do you love our country, or do you want civil… communist (expletive).”
Afterward, Atwood allegedly found a large metal pipe and threw it into the police line, striking a D.C. Metro police officer before it ricocheted into a Virginia State Police trooper’s head and neck, investigators said. Photos and videos taken during the riot also show Atwood inside the building at one point after entering through a broken window, according to court documents.
Federal investigators identified Atwood by matching a scar on his forehead shown in photographs taken of him at the Capitol and a mugshot from the Washington County jail for an arrest on a reckless endangerment charge in 2011.
According to court documents, authorities were able to locate Atwood following his arrest for an alleged robbery and assault last April at the Crazy Donkey restaurant in Chester, W.Va. Court documents show Atwood was arrested in the Burgettstown area on May 25 and eventually was extradited back to West Virginia, where details on the assault and robbery case were not immediately available. However, a citation from a traffic stop for speeding on Route 22 in Smith Township on Sept. 3 shows that he had been released from jail and returned to the area.
It’s not known why the federal indictment took nearly a year to file after investigators were able to identify and locate Atwood after the incident at the West Virginia restaurant.
Atwood is facing felony charges of civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon; entering, remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and an act of physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
It’s not known where Atwood is currently being held while he awaits extradition to Washington, D.C., to face the federal charges related to the assault on the U.S. Capitol.