Kentucky Man Living In Pa. Held For Trial In Pepper Spraying Of Capitol Officers
PITTSBURGH (AP/KDKA) -- A federal judge has ruled there is probable cause in the case against a man accused of spraying at least two officers with an irritant during the violent siege on the Capitol in January.
During a probable cause hearing Thursday, federal prosecutors presented videos and photos of the Jan. 6 Capitol siege they say show Peter Schwartz, of Owensboro, Kentucky, wearing a distinctive orange and blue patterned jacket holding a large canister of pepper spray, spraying officers with a smaller irritant spray container and swinging a wooden baton.
Prosecutors presented text messages from Schwartz's phone where he tells a friend that he took pepper spray from officers and another where he says he had gotten their blood.
Schwartz is facing charges of forcibly assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Schwartz had been living in Uniontown and was arrested last week.
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