Arkansas Man Assaulted Police Officer with Flagpole During US Capitol Riot, Arrested

by Deedra Abboud in Political, Solutions

January 14, 2021 • 1 comment

This is the one I’ve been passionately waiting for – who knew it would turn out to have an Arkansas connection.

An Arkansas man is facing federal charges after authorities say he assaulted a police officer with a flagpole during a riot at the U.S. Capitol, officials said Thursday.

KATV reported that Peter Francis Stager, 41, was identified after videos of the attack were posted on Twitter.

Stager was also seen on one of the videos, saying “Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor. Death is the only remedy for what’s in that building,” KATV reported.

Prosecutors allege in a criminal complaint that members of the MAGA mob who stormed the building last Wednesday grabbed the officer, dragged him down a flight of stairs, and forced him into a “prone position,” before “forcibly and repeatedly” hitting him in the head and body with “various objects.”

Public records show that Stager lives in Conway, a city of about 68,000 north of Little Rock.

A person recognized him in the videos and alerted the FBI, according to the affidavit.

A second person also identified the man as Stager.

That person told authorities that he spoke to Stager after the riot and Stager told him that he thought the person he was hitting was part of the antifa movement, even though the officer clearly had “Metropolitan Police” on his clothing.

Stager insisted to the second informant he was “‘wired up’ from being either pepper-sprayed or tear-gassed and that was why he made the comments he did on camera.”

The FBI found records from the Arkansas Department of Motor Vehicles and Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration that helped identify Stager, the affidavit says.

Stager faces an initial federal charge of obstructing, impeding, or interfering with a law enforcement officer lawfully engaged in the performance of his duties during the commission of a civil disorder.