Fort Worth man sentenced for attacking police with ‘makeshift weapons’ at Capitol riot
A Fort Worth man was sentenced Wednesday to more than four years in federal prison for attacking police officers with a baton and other weapons during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Thomas John Ballard, 36, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 54 months, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The North Texas man entered a guilty plea in July in federal court in Washington, D.C., to the felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon. At the sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ordered Ballard to serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution of $2,000 and a $100 special assessment in addition to the prison time.
Ballard wore a baseball cap that said “Infowars” and, at times, a gas mask when “he joined the mob storming the U.S. Capitol,” federal authorities said in the release.
The Fort Worth man armed himself with a police baton before making his way to the Lower West Terrace and tunnel area of the Capitol building, “where some of the most violent conflict was inflicted on police officers” during the insurrection, the release said. Ballard watched other rioters assault officers who were defending the Capitol for more than an hour before he entered the tunnel and joined in, according to court documents.
Ballard attacked police officers “using numerous makeshift weapons that included a piece of metal scaffolding, several pieces of a wooden plank, and a white metal pole,” court documents states. He threw a tabletop, a table leg, “a cup of some unknown liquid” and other projectiles at officers, and hit them with the police baton he was carrying, authorities said. He also pointed a flashing strobe light at police in an effort to temporarily blind or distract them.
Ballard’s actions were documented in videos provided to the FBI by concerned citizens as well as officer’s bodycam footage surveillance footage from inside the Capitol.
Since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,230 people have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach, including over 440 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. Their actions disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify the electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.
