IL Man Pleads Guilty To Assaulting Police Officer, Cameraman On Jan. 6

ILLINOIS — A 44-year-old Illinois man faces up to nine years in prison after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and a news photographer during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, federal prosecutors recently announced.

Shane Jason Woods pleaded guilty on Friday during a court appearance in Washington, D.C. Court documents show that Woods lowered his shoulder and “rammed” into a police officer as she was chasing after someone who sprayed her with a chemical agent shortly after 2 p.m. on Jan. 6, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

The contact knocked the officer off her feet, records show, sending her crashing into a downed bicycle rack, court documents show. The officer told police that she was in immediate pain and felt like she had been “hit by a truck” the next day.

Documents also show that Woods was among rioters who gathered a few hours later in the media staging area on the northeast side of the Capitol. The group walked around a pile of media equipment that had either was being destroyed or had been damaged and court documents show that Woods picked up some of the equipment and tossed it.

At the same time, documents show that a news photographer was attempting to leave the area and was attempting to protect his television camera. Documents show that Woods took a running start and hit the cameraman with a “blindside shoulder tackle” and knocked him off his feet.

Woods was arrested in June in Springfield and will be sentenced on Jan. 13. The charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding a law enforcement officer carries a maximum sentence of eight years while the assault charge carries a sentence of up to a year in prison along with fines.

In the 20 months since Jan. 6, more than 870 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 265 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, prosecutors said.