WASHINGTON — A second man has now been arrested on charges related to the assault on D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone during the Capitol riot on January 6.
The Justice Department says Daniel Rodriguez, 38, of Fontana, California, was taken into custody Wednesday by the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. A federal grand jury issued a sealed indictment for Rodriguez last week on multiple charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, theft of government property and disorderly or disruptive conduct with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
According to statement from the DOJ, those charges include an assault on Fanone, who was dragged into the crowd and beaten repeatedly while attempting to defend the U.S. Capitol Building from a mob of pro-Trump rioters.
Federal prosecutors say Rodriguez use a flagpole and a stun gun-like weapon to assault Fanone.
Fanone told WUSA9 that he remembers wondering if his four daughters would be OK without him as he was beaten, tased and suffered a heart attack during the assault. Fanone said rioters grabbed pieces of equipment off his vest as he was being beaten, and that he heard members of the mob chanting, “Kill him with his own gun.”
Rodriguez isn’t the first suspect to face charges in connection with Fanone’s assault. Earlier this month, Thomas F. Sibick, a resident of Buffalo, New York, was arrested for allegedly stealing Fanone’s badge and radio while the officer was being attacked. Sibick initially denied having kept the items, but eventually revealed that he had buried them in his backyard, according to the FBI.
An initial hearing for Rodriguez was scheduled for Friday morning in the Central District of California.
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