Pittsburgh-area man accused of attacking Capitol police officer during Jan. 6 riots
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Washington County man is accused of attacking U.S. Capitol police officers during the riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
Joshua Lee Atwood of Burgettstown is facing a lengthy list of charges in connection with the attack on the Capitol three years ago, according to a news release on Wednesday from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
The 31-year-old Western Pennsylvania man was arrested in Burgettstown on Wednesday and made a court appearance in the Western District of Pennsylvania.
According to court documents cited by the news release, Atwood is seen on police body cam video attacking law enforcement officers who were defending the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the Capitol.
"The Tunnel was the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement that day," the news release said.
Atwood was seen throwing numerous objects at officers on that day. Those objects, according to the news release, included a bottle from the ground and a "long silver pole." The document also accused the Pennsylvania man of using a "long wooden pole" to hit "multiple officers in a stabbing motion with a significant amount of force."
He is also accused of hitting an officer with a police riot shield and yelling profanities at officers.
His charges include civil disorder, an act of physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
More than 1,387 individuals have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, the news release said. Rachel Powell, a Mercer County mother of eight accused of using a bullhorn to instruct rioters and smashing a window during the Jan. 6 attack, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison in 2023.