US Sentences Man to 5.2 Years for Attacking Police at Capitol on January 6 - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Washington, DC resident Mark Ponder has been sentenced to five years and two months in prison for assaulting police officers with a flagpole during the January 6 riot, the Justice Department said in a press release Tuesday.

"A District of Columbia man was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for assaulting law enforcement officers during the breach of the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021," the release said.

Ponder, 56, used a red, white and blue-striped pole and attacked a US Capitol Police officer who used his shield to block Ponder’s attempts to hit him, the release said. Ponder then joined a crowd of protesters and swung the flagpole in the direction of a group of officers and banged it on the ground and as police officers moved on the crowd, the release added.

The sentence is three months longer than prosecutors recommended and matches the longest sentence handed down against any of the more than 200 defendants who have been sentenced for the violence during the events at the US Capitol on January 6, according to the release.