The FBI has arrested a man seen in widely-circulated video (below) hurling a fire extinguisher at a group of Capitol Police officers during the Capitol insurrection, but authorities ruled him out as a suspect in the death of a Capitol Police officer beaten to death with a fire extinguisher.
Different incident, different fire extinguisher:
“Capitol Police officer William Young, who was hit by the fire extinguisher, told investigators he was among 20 officers and two sergeants who were attempting to control the crowd when he felt ‘a hard strike to the back of his helmet’ and saw the extinguisher on the ground. He went to the hospital but has since been cleared for duty.”
(Read about that here.)
Robert Sanford (photo, left), 55, a retired firefighter from Chester, Pennsylvania (the “CFD” on his hat stands for “Chester Fire Department”), now faces three federal felony charges for assaulting Young. He was turned in by “a friend” to whom he’d confided he was the person in photos, although he didn’t admit to throwing anything. (Read story here and here).
Sanford, who traveled to the insurrection by bus, denied being affiliated with any extremist groups, but a Proud Boys t-shirt was found in a search of his home.
Meanwhile an innocent retired Chicago firefighter wrongly identified by amateur sleuths in social media as the man in the “CFD” hat is receiving threats and being harassed. (Read that story here.) It’s fine to be upset with the rioters, but people should leave the pursuit of justice to the authorities. Even one lynch mob is too many, and our country doesn’t need another one.