U.S. News

Judge Agrees to Free QAnon Supporter Who Chased Capitol Cop Eugene Goodman at Riots

‘poster boy’

A federal judge agreed to release Douglas Jensen on house arrest, calling it a “close case.”

2021-01-06T000000Z_170532025_RC2L2L9TCGSD_RTRMADP_3_USA-ELECTION-CONGRESS_lqfljp
Mike Theile/Reuters.

A federal judge agreed on Tuesday to free an insurrectionist from jail after he was caught on camera chasing a police officer up two flights of stairs inside the Capitol building during the Jan. 6 riots.

Douglas Jensen, 41, donned a QAnon T-shirt when he breached the complex and joined a mob that confronted Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman. He now faces charges including civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding a law enforcement officer. Prosecutors have insisted he poses a danger to the public after becoming a “poster boy” for the events that unfolded on Jan. 6.

After calling it a “close case,” U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly agreed to Jensen’s release on house arrest with electronic monitoring. Kelly said Jensen’s actions were “deeply concerning and quite serious,” but added that Jensen is not accused of roughing up property or getting into any Capitol brawls. Kelly also said that a video which shows Jensen referring to the Capitol building as the White House suggested that he could not have coordinated with others or planned an attack in advance “when he had no basic understanding of where he even was that day.”

Read it at ABC News

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.