On January 6, 2021, a truck driver hit a police officer with a flagpole at the Capitol. He was given a 52-month federal prison sentence on Monday. One of the most horrifying pictures to come out of the Capitol incident was the attack by the driver, Peter Stager.
Officer Blake Miller was beaten with the flagpole by Mr. Stager, 44, of Conway, Arkansas, in a fit of passion as Officer Miller fell face down amid a crowd of other rioters with “no means of defending himself,” according to the prosecution’s court documents.
Officer Miller and two of his coworkers, Officers Carter Moore and Andrew Wayte, were attacked during a 90-second violent outburst on the steps outside a tunnel at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol. Mr. Stager was one of nine males accused of the assaults. Officers who were assaulted in a tunnel, on the terrace, and on the steps there have compared the violence to the hand-to-hand fighting of a medieval battle on numerous occasions.
Prosecutors allege that Mr. Stager pointed at the Capitol and said, “Everyone in there is a disgrace,” after beating Officer Miller. There are traitorous traitors everywhere you look in that place. The only cure for what’s within that structure is deαΌth.
“DeαΌth is the remedy for every one of those Capitol law enforcement officers,” he continued. They only receive that treatment.
The tweet below confirms the news:
Breaking News: A truck driver who assaulted a police officer with a flagpole during the Jan. 6 attack was sentenced to 52 months in federal prison. https://t.co/38yNTHAtFp
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 24, 2023
Mr. Stager’s attorneys informed Judge Rudolph Contreras in court documents submitted before the sentencing in Federal District Court in Washington that their client had, like many Jan. 6 defendants, gone through a horrific childhood.
According to the attorneys, Mr. Stager was homeless in his early years and lived under benches in California while stealing food from shops and garbage. When Mr. Stager was about 6 years old, his mother abandoned him and his brothers, according to the attorneys, and he was placed in foster care.
Arkansas Trucker Claims He Was in D.c. For Work, Not Jan. 6 Riot
Judge Contreras was informed by the attorneys that Mr. Stager was only in Washington on January 6 due to a scheduling dispute with his trucking company’s dispatch service. The lawyers claimed that after delivering a shipment of produce to a location close to Washington, he decided against returning to Arkansas with an empty truck because he knew he would lose money and have to pay for fuel.
As an alternative, the attorneys claimed that Mr. Stager “decided to make the most of the situation” and attend President Donald J. Trump’s rally on the Ellipse in Washington on January 6. The attorneys claimed that Mr. Stager would regret this choice for the rest of his life.
“Mr. Stager’s emotional state was in turmoil,” his attorneys argued, as the throng moved from Mr. Trump’s address near the White House to the Capitol and turned violent. Then, they claimed, “seeing red,” he allegedly picked up a flagpole that was laying on the ground and pursued Officer Miller.
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In a letter included with his attorney’s submission, Mr. Stager expressed regret to the officer and stated that he “had no hatred toward law enforcement, let alone for anyone.”
Mason Courson, Logan Barnhart, and Justin Jersey, three of Mr. Stager’s co-defendants, have also received sentences for assault-related offenses. Each of them received a sentence of three to five years in prison, which is a relatively light punishment for attacks on law enforcement.
Of the more than 1,000 persons indicted in connection with the Capitol attack, several of the other rioters condemned for attacking police have got some of the harshest punishments.
A Pennsylvania welder was given more than 14 years in jail in May for attacking police with a chair and chemical spray. A Californian was sentenced to more than 12 years in jail the following month for twice using a Taser on Officer Michael Fanone’s neck.
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