LOCUST GROVE, Ga. — A Georgia business owner who bragged about “baiting” police officers to the mob of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for repeated assault. Nearby was sentenced. About law enforcement during an insurrection.
Jack Wade Whitten, 34, of Locust Grove, struck the officer with a metal crutch and dragged him face-down into the crowd on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol.
Whitton later bragged in a text message that he “feeded me to people.”
Whitton was arrested just months after the riot. in April 2021 and engaging in civil disorder, entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, or committing physical violence in any restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He is charged with committing physical violence on Capitol grounds or in any building.
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He also approached a line of police officers, kicked them and punched their riot shields. After a while he returned to them and cried, “You die tonight.”
Mr Whitton, who pleaded guilty last year to assault charges, told the judge he was not a “politician”.
“I’ve never been a troublemaker. I’ve always been a hard-working, law-abiding citizen,” he said.
But the judge in the case disagreed, calling the video of Whitton attacking police “grisly”.
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“You were truly out of control,” the judge told him.
Prosecutors said video showed simultaneous attacks on police by Whitton and co-defendant Justin Jersey “ignited the onslaught of violence that followed” on Lower West Terrace. ing.
However, Whitton’s argument was not accepted by the judge because the evidence of Whitton’s actions showed otherwise.
The night after the Jan. 6 attack, Whitton texted someone an image of a bloody hand.
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“This is coming from a bad cop,” Whitton wrote. “Yes, I fed him to people. (I don’t know) his status. And never mind (to be honest).”
More than 1,350 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. More than 850 of them were sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving sentences ranging from a few days to 22 years.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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