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Jan. 6 Rioter Shot Dead by Cop Came From Law Enforcement Family

FAMILY BUSINESS

Matthew Huttle, 42, was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop in Indiana this week.

exclusive
Matthew Huttle, the Jan. 6 rioter who was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop this week.
US Department of Justice

A fatal encounter at 4:15 p.m. Sunday on State Road 14 just east of County Road 475 in rural Indiana had all the makings of a Trump-era morality tale: Six days after President Donald Trump pardoned some 1,500 people for a riot where more than 140 police officers were injured, one of the absolved participants was shot to death by a Jasper County sheriff’s deputy when a traffic stop reportedly turned combative.

As if that were not irony enough, the Daily Beast can now exclusively report that the deceased, 42-year-old Matthew Huttle, was the son of a retired deputy for an adjoining county who was highly regarded and once proclaimed officer of the year.

In two decades with the Lake County Sheriff’s office, Sgt. Donald Huttle conducted countless traffic stops. He pulled over five members of the Outlaw motorcycle gang in 1994, arresting three on gun and drug charges without incident. But a stop involving his son and a Jasper County deputy seems to have suddenly turned deadly.

“During the traffic stop, the officer attempted to arrest the suspect when the suspect resisted,” the Jasper County Sheriff’s reported following a preliminary investigation by the Indiana State Police Criminal Investigations Division. “An altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect. The investigation also shows that during the traffic stop, the suspect was in possession of a firearm.”

As an added irony, the younger Huttle does not seem to have been among those who assaulted police officers at the Capitol. He was there because of his father’s brother Dale, a car salesman who fervently believed the 2020 election had been stolen.

“Dale Huttle asked Matt if he would drive him to DC,” the younger Huttle’s pre-sentence memorandum says. “Dale has bad eyesight and should not drive, especially at night … And so he regrettably agreed to drive his uncle to DC and go with him to the Trump rally.”

The memorandum adds, “Matt’s motivation was for something to do and because he thought it would be a historic event that he could document through pictures and videos. His uncle talked to him about politics and stolen elections, but Matt mostly tuned this out as he did not really care. Matt is not alleged to have caused any property damage or committed any violence that day. Matt also did not berate or harass police officers.”

The uncle was filmed using a flag pole bearing an upside-down American flag to assault police officers on the Capitol steps, jabbing them as if with a spear. The younger Huttle limited himself to shooting video of the scene. The footage of his 16 minutes inside the Capitol was later collected as evidence against him, including a moment when he turned the lens on himself and announced, “That’s me!”

Matthew Huttle and Uncle
Dale Huttle was sentenced to 30 months in prison for assaulting police officers with a violent weapon, which happened to be a pole bearing an upside-down American flag. U.S. Department of Justice

He and his uncle both pleaded guilty. The uncle was sentenced to 30 months for assaulting police officers with a dangerous weapon (the flag pole). He was among those immediately freed when Trump issued the mass pardons.

Matthew Huttle had already served his six-month sentence for entering a restricted building. He had expressed more remorse than some of those who severely injured cops.

“He admits his role in the attack and he sincerely regrets it,” the pre-sentence memorandum says. “January 6 was an attack on our democracy, put people’s lives at risk, and disrupted the certification of the vote count for the 2020 Presidential Election. It was a shameful day and those who participated in the riot bear responsibility for it. Matt is one of those participants and he sincerely regrets what happened and what he did that day. He apologizes to the Court for his conduct on January 6.”

In offering some background, the memorandum describes Huttle as an itinerant journeyman carpenter who had a long struggle with alcoholism. He drank between 12 and 18 beers a day for 15 years. He had seven DUI convictions, and another for drunkenly driving away from a gas station without paying.

People who knew him say he was charming and intelligent when sober, and a mess when he was not. He was shot in the back of the knee in 2015 for reasons that are unclear. He was attacked with a hammer and baseball bat by his son’s mother’s boyfriend in 2018. The son’s mother subsequently died from a fentanyl overdose.

According to the memorandum, Matthew Huttle stopped drinking in 2019 after being diagnosed with severe liver cirrhosis. His own mother, Lynn Huttle, died in January 2023. She had been a first grade teacher for 34 years.

“Lynn enjoyed traveling, being an artist, reading, gardening, going to mass at St. Bridget Catholic Church, riding on the back of Don’s motorcycle and attending her grandkids’ events,” an online obituary read.

She was survived by her husband of 45 years, the now-retired sergeant. The grandkids included Matthew Huttle’s teenage son and pre-teen daughter. Their father completed his sentence in July of last year.

On Jan. 20, Matthew Huttle was pardoned, along with his uncle and everyone else connected with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

With the move, our newly inaugurated president sent a message: Sometimes it is OK to battle the police.

At 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, Jasper County EMS put out a call for an emergency on State Road 14.

“Gunshot wound,” the dispatcher said.

Matthew Huttle and Uncle
Dale Huttle was a car salesman who fervently believed the 2020 election had been stolen when he stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Exactly what happened in the newly pardoned Matthew Huttle’s final moments should become clearer if the authorities release the body-camera footage from the deputy who shot him. It is certainly nothing that Donald Huttle could have foreseen when he became a deputy. He was a dog trainer in the Air Force before he joined the Lake County Sheriff’s office and teamed up with another deputy to establish its first K-9 unit, including his dog, Wolf.

He was himself shot in 1988, in the leg by friendly fire during a narcotics raid.

Donald Huttle and his brother could not be reached by phone and did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

By all accounts, retired Sgt. Huttle was a stellar cop. Jasper County Sheriff Patrick Williamson no doubt had him in mind, along with the rest of the Huttle family, when he added a sentence to the account of the shooting that was posted online.

“Our condolences go out to the family of the deceased as any loss of life is traumatic to those that were close to Mr. Huttle,” Sheriff Patrick Williamson said.

The final lesson of this morality tale: Do not fight with the police, whether you are on State Road 14, at the U.S. Capitol building, or anywhere else.