Jury Rejects Ex-NYPD Cop’s Excuse for Bashing Cop During Capitol Riot

Thomas Webster, a former Marine and 20-year NYPD veteran, was convicted by a federal jury on Monday of assaulting a D.C. police officer with a flagpole during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Webster was caught on camera rushing at Officer Noah Rathbun, hitting him with a flagpole, then tackling him to the ground and grabbing his gas mask when Rathbun wrested the pole from him. Rathbun testified that he started to choke as the gas mask’s strap pressed on his throat. Webster, who traveled to the riot alone wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a Marine Corps flag on a metal pole, tried to claim he was acting in self-defense after he was taunted and punched in the face by a “rogue” Rathbun. The verdict is a significant one as Webster is the first rioter to be tried on an assault charge and the first to claim self-defense before a jury, the Associated Press reports.