Man charged with assaulting a police officer during US Capitol riots is denied bail
A Connecticut man charged with assaulting a police officer during the breach of the US Capitol — when the officer was crushed in a door and was seen on video screaming in pain — was denied bail Wednesday.
US Magistrate Judge Andrew Krause ordered Patrick McCaughey remanded into federal custody, with the judge calling the widely shared video of the incident “extraordinarily disturbing.”
McCaughey, 23, was arrested Tuesday on charges including assault connected to his alleged role in the riots.
Prosecutors say McCaughey assaulted Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges with a clear police shield as Hodges fought to stop a crowd of rioters from breaching the Capitol.
McCaughey and the crowd pushed forward to gain access to the building, crushing Hodges, court documents say.
In viral video of the incident, Hodges screams in pain as he is trapped in a doorway.
“Don’t try and use that stick on me boy,” McCaughey is heard saying, presumably referencing the officer’s baton, according to federal prosecutors.
“You see me. Just go home. Talk to your buddies and go home. … Don’t try to use that stick on me. I am not hurting you.”
As Hodges continues to scream in pain on the footage, McCaughey can later be heard saying the officer should be let through and acknowledging he was injured, according to the complaint affidavit.
McCaughey allegedly struck more uniformed law enforcement officers with the shield after Hodges broke free, the court document says.
In an interview with CNN, Hodges called the rioters “true believers in the worst way.”
“Some of them felt like we would be fast friends because so many of them have been vocal,” Hodges told CNN.
“They say things like, ‘Yeah, we’ve been supporting you through all this Black Lives Matter stuff, you should have our back,’ and they felt entitled,” Hodges said.
A childhood friend positively identified McCaughey to federal investigators, according to the court documents.
McCaughey was charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees; civil disorder; entering restricted building or grounds; and violent entry or disorderly conduct, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
It is his first brush with law, and if convicted, McCaughey could face a minimum of five years in prison, a prosecutor told the judge Wednesday.
“Even after days of seeing so many shocking and horrific scenes from the siege on the U.S. Capitol, the savage beating of DC Metropolitan Police Officer Hodges stands out for the perpetrator’s blatant disregard for human life,” Steven D’Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, said in a news release. “Patrick McCaughey’s actions were violent, barbaric, and completely out of control.”
Mccaughey, who was represented by a public defender at the hearing Wednesday, will be removed from the Southern District of New York and appear in federal district court for the District of Columbia, prosecutors said.
