72-Year-Old Capitol Rioter From PA Sentenced To Years In Prison

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA — A 72-year-old King of Prussia man will spend nearly four years in prison after attacking a police officer with a metal flagpole during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

Authorities said that Howard C. Richardson beat the Metropolitan Police Department officer with the pole until it snapped. He pleaded guilty in April to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.

Richardson was part of a crowd that breached police barriers into a restricted area of the Capitol grounds that day, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office out of Washington, D.C.

As the crowd came up to another police barricade at around 1:38 p.m., Richardson raised the flag and brought it down to strike one of the officers, authorities said. He then raised it and hit the officer with it at least two more times until it broke, according to officials.

Moments later, Richardson was part of a group that shoved a large metal sign into a line of other police officers.

After his 46 months of incarceration, Richardson also faces three years of probation and a $2,000 fine, the judge ruled.

An investigation led to Richardson's arrest on Nov. 30, 2021 in Philadelphia. Upper Merion Township Police assisted the FBI, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the U.S. Capitol Police in the investigation.