FBI Agents Arrest Connecticut Man Who Crushed U.S. Capitol Officer In Door During Trump-Influenced Riot

The Connecticut man responsible for assaulting a police officer by crushing him in a doorway during the domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol has been arrested. 

Police arrested Patrick Edward McCaughey III, 23, of Ridgefield on charges after he assaulted Capitol Police Officer Daniel Hodges on Jan. 6. During the Trump-influenced domestic terrorist attack, McCaughey told Hodges to “just go home” and “come on man, you are going to get squished,” pinning the officer between a riot shield Hodges was holding and the doors, a criminal complaint states, CNBC reports.

Another rioter came in and “began violently ripping off Officer Hodges’ gas mask, exposing Officer Hodges bloodied mouth,” said the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Video footage, that has now be uploaded to YouTube, shows the gruesome sight. Hodges can be heard screaming in pain as Trump supporters pushed against him. 

McCaughey left the Capitol, and video footage captured him assaulting other police officers with the riot shield. While Hodges came out of the incident only wounded, another officer trying to defend the Capitol was beaten and killed by rioters later that day. Hodges said he would have taken on the responsibility without pay. “If it wasn’t my job, I would have done that for free.” He continued: “It was absolutely my pleasure to crush a white nationalist insurrection, and we’ll do it as many times as it takes,” Hodges said.

A person called and dropped a tip-off to police about McCaughey, which helped FBI agents in White Plains, New York identify and arrest him on Tuesday. In a statement, acting District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said, “The vicious attack on Officer Hodges was abhorrent and quintessentially un-American.”

“It is my pledge that anyone involved in violent attacks on law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. McCaughey’s alleged actions were an assault on Officer Hodges, the Capitol, and the rule of law itself,” he said.