Accused 'Pizzagate' Arsonist Fights Cops At Monument: Report

WASHINGTON, DC -- In an extraordinary scene at the base of the Washington Monument, a man suspected of setting fire to the D.C. pizzeria at the heart of the far-right "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory was captured on camera apparently fighting with police officers -- and it was captured on video (see below).

NBC Washington reports that 22-year-old Ryan Rimas Jaselskis was charged on Wednesday with arson. Prosecutors claim that on Jan. 23, Jaselskis started a fire inside Comet Ping Pong -- a restaurant in Northwest where alt-right conspiracy theorists believe Hillary Clinton runs a child sex ring in the basement (it doesn't have a basement).

NBC Washington posted video that supposedly depicts Jaselskis fighting with U.S. Park Police officers at the foot of the Washington Monument on Feb. 5. Jaselskis is accused of climbing the fence around the monument.

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In the video, the man can be seen struggling with officers and even apparently attempting to punch them before he is finally taken down by a stun gun.

Comet Ping Pong had another high-profile incident in December 2016 when Edward Maddison Welch of North Carolina when into the restaurant armed with an AR-15 and fired it at a locked closet, only to discover that there were no children being held in the restaurant. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

After the Jan. 23 fire, D.C.'s Arson Task Force released surveillance video showing the suspect walking into the pizzeria and trying to destroy a camera with a fire burning nearby.

Paramedics that arrived to the scene at the Washington Monument recognized Jaselskis as the arson suspect, according to the NBC report.

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)