A Collin County, Texas, man was found guilty Wednesday of assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach in Washington, D.C.
Matthew DaSilva, a 51-year-old Navy veteran from Lavon, was convicted of two felonies and four misdemeanors.
He was found guilty of civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C.
DaSilva was found not guilty of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.
“His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a written statement.
Prosecutors said DaSilva made his way to the Capitol’s west plaza about 2:30 p.m. that day while holding a flagpole and waving a large blue flag. Less than two hours later, security footage showed him at the back of a crowd of rioters “engaging in a group ‘heave-ho’ maneuver in an attempt to dislodge law enforcement from their position” defending an entrance to the building, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
The video shows DaSilva approached a group of officers in the tunnel minutes later and push against an officer’s outstretched riot shield before grabbing it and pulling it away.
Court documents say DaSilva also swatted the officer’s arm away as the officer try to deploy pepper spray.
DaSilva is scheduled to be sentenced in October. It was not immediately clear how much time in prison he faces.
In the 30 months since the riot, more than 1,000 people have been arrested — in almost every state — in relation to crimes committed during the breach of the Capitol, including more than 350 who have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
About two dozen North Texans were among those charged.
