Former NFL player Leander Antwione Williams has been arrested for protesting at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) slapped the former Detroit Lions linebacker with felony and misdemeanor charges, The Hill reported.
The FBI arrested Williams on Thursday in Savannah, Georgia.
The DOJ said he is headed to a Southern District of Georgia Court for his initial appearance.
The 31-year-old former football player, who was a fifth-round pick in the 2016 draft, has become the latest protester to be tracked down by the feds years after the incident to face charges.
The FBI released photos of him marked as “AFO-419” for Assault on a Federal Officer, which ultimately led to his arrest.
🚨BREAKING: Former #Lions LB Antwione Williams was arrested today for his involvement with the January 6th, US capitol incident.
He faces felony counts for assault, resisting, impeding officers, & obstruction of law enforcement.
The FBI identified him using a unique red key fob pic.twitter.com/BaMwp4D5ZY
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) November 15, 2024
There are several charges Williams is facing because of his role as one of the first people “to breach the restricted permitter of Capitol grounds,” the Justice Department said.
He has been charged with felony offenses for assaulting or impeding law enforcement and resisting.
Misdemeanor charges for Williams include acts of physical violence on the Capitol grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and entering and remaining in a restricted building.
He allegedly “confronted and overpowered” law enforcement officials who were guarding the building.
Williams allegedly tried to grab a bike rack from the officer who was attempting to disperse the crowd.
According to the DOJ, Williams also “allegedly lunged at an officer, swatting at the officer’s hand as the officer deployed spray to prevent the rioters from advancing.”
Williams is also accused of striking an officer from the Metropolitan Police Department “on the head with a forceful arm motion.”
According to NBC News, Williams was caught after authorities received a tip in December 2022 about his social media posts.
Then, in 2023, the FBI interviewed at Williams’ home and observed a red key fob like the one seen on the suspect in video footage from the Capitol attack.
Investigators also tracked down Williams’s payment for parking near a Metro station just 10 minutes from the Capitol.
The FBI has charged more than 1,2561 individuals for various crimes allegedly committed on Jan. 6.
Nearly half of those were for crimes such as assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
While violence against law enforcement is a serious and punishable offense, many people caught up in the unrest were nonviolent offenders who were charged too severely.
The FBI has been on a crusade to find and punish every individual who was there in any capacity that day.
President Donald Trump has vowed to release these prisoners once he’s sworn back into office.
Politico reported that some defendants are already counting on it.
Just hours after Trump was declared the winner on Election Day, Jan. 6 defendant Christopher Carnell requested to delay his trial until after Trump is inaugurated.
“Mr. Carnell, who was an 18-year-old nonviolent entrant into the Capitol on January 6, is expecting to be relieved of the criminal prosecution that he is currently facing when the new administration takes office,” his attorney, Marina Medvin, wrote.
“Mr. Carnell is now awaiting further information from the office of the president-elect regarding the timing and expected scope of clemency actions relevant to his case.”
People who do terrible things must pay their debt to society.
However, it’s unfortunate that politics has led the feds to investigate with more zeal than any other investigation in recent memory.
