Jan. 6 defendant in flagpole police beating case sentenced to 4 years in prison

A man was sentenced on Monday to a more than four years in prison for beating a police officer with a flagpole during the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

In a news release, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Peter Francis Stager of Conway, Arkansas was sentenced after pleading guilty to a felony charge. The charge was for his role in disrupting Congress’s joint session of certifying the electoral votes of President Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Authorities said Stager was a part of a large, armed mob of rioters who attacked police officers at the Lower West Terrace entrance of the Capitol building. 

According to federal prosecutors, at 4:27 p.m. Stager positioned himself toward the bottom of a set of steps that led to the archway that authorities had been defending for the past two hours, as rioters tried to fight their way into the entrance. 

According to court documents, Stager watched other rioters attack the police line and dragged one police officer, face down and head first, into the crowd of rioters.

Once that happened, Stager used the flagpole he was carrying and beat down the police officer, striking him at least three times, according to federal prosecutors..

Authorities said that after his assault on the police officer, Stager then headed up the steps of toward the archway where a second police officer was lying on the ground, fending off attacks from other rioters.

“F*** you! F***ng traitor!”  Stager yelled at the officer as he stood over him, prosecutors said. 

Stager also filmed a video during the insurrection, pointing the camera at the Capitol building while saying, “Everybody in there is a disgrace. That entire building is filled with treasonous traitors. Death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.”

 “Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor,” Stager said. “Every single one of those Capitol law enforcement officers, death is the remedy, that is the only remedy they get.”

Authorities arrested Stager a week after the insurrection. 

Authorities have arrested more than 1,069 people for their involvement in the Capitol insurrection, which resulted in five deaths. More than 350 individuals were charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement during the riot. 

Stager, 44, pleaded guilty earlier in February to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon during the riot. Stager was ordered to pay restitution up to $2,000 and will be placed on supervised release for three years.