A Florida college student was arrested Thursday for striking a police officer in the head with a skateboard during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, leaving him with a concussion, the FBI said in an affidavit. Grady Douglas Owens, a student at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, faces up to 36 years behind bars if convicted of the charges against him, which include assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon and inflicting bodily injury, and violent entry of the Capitol building, among other things. Owens, who is due to appear in court on Friday for a bond hearing, was caught on body cam footage striking a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer in the head with a skateboard bearing the phrase “White Fang.” Federal investigators later tracked him down with the help of social media, and an employee of Full Sail University positively identified him as the man seen in the footage.
Separately, another Florida man was arrested Thursday in connection with the riot. William Rogan Reid is charged with unlawfully entering the Capitol building and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Court documents say the FBI received a tip about Reid’s participation in the riots from someone who spotted a video he posted on social media of the attempted insurrection. According to the complaint, investigators then discovered a flurry of taunts directed at law enforcement on Reid’s Instagram account, including, “Hi, Feds” and “I’LL FUCKIN DO IT AGAIN.”
