Jan. 6 Rioter Gets 54 Months In Prison For Assaulting Police & Press

Shane Jason Woods, 45, of Auburn, Illinois, was sentenced to 54 months in prison to be followed by 36 months of supervised release for assaulting police officers and members of the press during the deadly invasion of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021. https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1408158420721614853 From the Department of Justice:

Woods pleaded guilty on Sept. 9, 2022, in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, to assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers and striking, beating, or wounding a person within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, both felonies.

According to court documents and video evidence presented at sentencing, on Jan. 6, 2021, Woods was among those illegally on the Capitol grounds, joining a mob in the northwestern lawn.

At approximately 2:10 p.m., an individual in the crowd sprayed a United States Capitol Police (USCP) officer in the face with a chemical irritant at point-blank range and then ran away. The officer gave chase.

As the officer pursued the suspect, Woods—who was standing to the officer’s side and outweighed the officer by over 100 pounds—lowered his shoulder, took several steps, and rammed into the officer, blindsiding them, knocking the officer off of their feet, and sending them flying into a downed metal bicycle barricade.

The officer felt immediate pain. The next day, Woods’ assault left the officer feeling as if they had been “hit by a truck.”

I think referring to this as “tripped an officer” is quite the understatement pic.twitter.com/djuz3BOgaD

— SeditionHunters (@SeditionHunters) June 24, 2021

Just over two hours later, Woods gathered with numerous other rioters just outside the media staging area on the northeast side of the Capitol lawn.

After spending a few minutes verbally harassing the reporters, camera operators, and technicians gathered there, Woods and several other rioters climbed over the metal barricades separating the media from the mob.

Woods then walked around some of the piled media equipment that had been destroyed or was in the process of being destroyed by other rioters and kicked some of it himself.

Woods then harassed and circled a camera operator. When the camera operator attempted to walk away, Woods followed them and bumped them with his shoulder.

The camera operator continued walking away, trying to leave. Woods then took a running start and hit the operator with a blindside shoulder tackle, sending the operator crashing to the ground and causing them to drop the camera.

But wait…there’s more! This “winner” was also arrested in November 2022 for drunk driving and charged with reckless homicide, aggravated driving under the influence, driving under the influence and fleeing/eluding police. The person he hit while driving the wrong way down I-55 died from the collision. https://twitter.com/JoeMyGod/status/1709677175245250646 (h/t JoeMyGod)