Arkansas man indicted in beating officer with flagpole at Capitol riot

LITTLE ROCK — An Arkansas man who is accused of beating a Washington D.C. police officer with a flagpole during a riot at the U.S. Capitol has been indicted on assault and other federal charges reported KATV content partner Region 8 News and the associated press.

The indictment was unsealed Wednesday in Washington, D.C., against 41-year-old Peter Francis Stager of Conway. It accuses him of using a “deadly or dangerous weapon,” a flagpole, to “forcibly assault, resist, impose, impede, intimidate and interfere with an officer.”

A video of the Jan. 6 melee appears to show Stager attacking a Washington police officer with the flagpole.FBI agents at the D.C. field office identified Stager in the videos after they were posted on Twitter.

Another video shows an interview Stager did where he points toward the Capitol building and says “everyone in that building is a treasonous traitor” and “death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.”

Authorities arrested Stager and took him into custody on Jan 14, after he turned himself into to local law firm. Two of Stager’s charges reportedly carry maximum prison terms of 20 years.

He’s at least the second Arkansas resident to face criminal charges in the riot. Richard Barnett, 60, of Gravette, was arrested after he broke into Nancy Pelosi’s office and put his feet on a desk.