Jacquelyn Starer, Ashland doctor, arrested and charged in Jan. 6 Capitol attack
ASHLAND - A doctor from Ashland was arrested Tuesday and is facing charges in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to newly released court documents. Jacquelyn Starer, 68, is captured on body camera footage striking a police officer, a criminal complaint alleges.
Starer "is a practicing physician licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts," according to the complaint made by an FBI special agent. WBZ-TV confirmed she once practiced at the Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain but is no longer active there.
The complaint says Starer was seen at the "Stop The Steal" rally and inside the Capitol wearing red clothing, including a hat that has "TRUMP" on it and the number 45.
Footage shows Starer making contact with a Metropolitan Police Department officer just before 3 p.m. on the west side of the Capitol Rotunda and then striking the officer, the complaint states. The officer said in a later interview that "a blonde woman wearing a red jacket and hat punched her in the left side of her head," according to the complaint.
Starer later received first aid after apparently becoming "affected by the chemical irritant that was deployed during the altercation," documents show.
The FBI says an online tipster notified them five days after the assault that Starer had said she planned to attend a march at the Capitol and bragged she "was prepared" for it by taking along a "mesh knife-proof shirt and bottles of pepper spray." In May of 2022, a coworker of the doctor was asked if they recognized Starer in the photos from Jan. 6 and said "that's Jackie."
An arrest warrant states that Starer is facing charges that include "forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding federal officers; civil disorder; and "engaging in physical violence in a Capitol Building," among other charges.
Starer appeared in court Tuesday afternoon. The FBI says a total of 19 people have now been arrested in the Boston area in connection with the Capitol assault.
The House Jan. 6 committee on Monday voted to refer President Donald Trump to the Justice Department for criminal charges in the Capitol attack. The proceedings mark the culmination of the panel's nearly 18-month-long investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol, which featured testimony from dozens of witnesses and a series of high-profile hearings that examined the assault and Trump's role in stoking his supporters to storm the building.
