Michigan man sentenced to prison for assaulting officers with hockey stick during Jan. 6 Capitol breach
(CBS DETROIT) - A Michigan man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison on two felony charges after assaulting law enforcement officers and disrupting a joint session of Congress during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Michael Joseph Foy, 32, of Wixom, was sentenced to 40 months in prison and 24 months of supervised release after he was convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, both felonies, on June 22, 2023.
Foy had traveled from his Michigan home to Washington, D.C., to attend the "Stop the Steal" rally to protest the results of the 2020 election and urge Congress to delay the certification of electoral votes, according to court documents.
He was wearing a camouflage jacket and hat, an American flag around his shoulders, and he was carrying a Trump 2020 flag attached to a hockey stick.
"Foy made his way toward the U.S. Capitol building at approximately 2:00 p.m. as part of a large crowd," according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice. "The group, including Foy, moved the "AREA CLOSED" signs and overturned metal bike rack barricades that police had erected to delineate a restricted area of the Capitol grounds. Foy then traveled to the Inaugural stage's scaffolding with other rioters and, by 4:00 p.m., had climbed to the Lower West Terrace."
At 4:25 p.m., Foy approached the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, where rioters battled officers for hours as they tried to breach the Capitol.
He picked up a sharp metal pole, threw it at a police officer's body, and then used his hockey stick to attack the officers.
Body camera footage shows Foy hitting at least 11 officers "with violent force" within 16 seconds.
Foy knocked on officer backward, and was hitting one who had already fallen to the ground.
Court documents say Foy was swinging the hockey stick over his head and down at the officers as if he were using an ax to chop wood.
Footage shows that he attacked an officer in the face, head, neck, and body area, and it wasn't in self-defense.
After attacking officers, Foy shouted, "Let's Go!" and pointed at the Capitol building. He entered the building at 4:29 p.m. through a broken window. Once inside, he encouraged other rioters to join him.
He was arrested on Jan. 21, 2021.
Since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,313 people have been charged in connection to the breach at the Capitol.
