Douglas Harrington (U.S. Attorney’s Office)
A man from Wyoming has been sentenced to over three years in prison for using a flagpole to attack law enforcement officers who were protecting the U.S. Capitol during the riots on January 6th.
Douglas Harrington, aged 69, received his sentence from U.S. District Chief Judge James E. Boasberg, who was appointed by Barack Obama. Harrington will serve 40 months in prison, followed by 24 months of supervised release, and he has also been instructed to pay $2,000 in restitution, as confirmed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Harrington was convicted of civil disorder, assaulting officers, trespassing, and disorderly conduct.
According to a statement detailing the case, Harrington was reported to have shown up at the Capitol on that fateful day wearing a cowboy hat, a painter’s respirator mask, and a military-style backpack, while also carrying flags displaying support for both America and Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.
He approached a line of officers on the Upper West Terrace and challenged them before using the bottom part of his flagpole to strike toward an officer. Harrington was sprayed with mace, but he didn’t stop, court documents said.
When officers turned their attention to another rioter who approached the line, Harrington raised his flagpole to jab at officers. When an officer moved toward Harrington to intervene, Harrington struck an officer with his flagpole and continued to swing it before retreating into the crowd. Afterward, Harrington grabbed at an officer’s baton, and he tried to shove an officer by pushing on a riot shield, officials said.
When other officers arrived and began clearing rioters from the area, Harrington sat on steps and pressed his back into the officers before he was eventually removed from the area.
He was arrested on Aug. 8, 2023, after authorities put out images of him online.
In court documents, FBI agents used Harrington’s own words that he posted on social media about how he felt about the 2020 election in the days after the vote and leading up to the riots.
“If Supreme Court don’t rectify the EVIL thats prayer time ad what God wants his warriors to do NEXT,” Harrington wrote in one post.
In another, authorities said he mentioned committing acts of violence to show, “who’s street it belongs too ITS WE THE PEOPLE THE TAXPAYERS.”
In a screed on Dec. 22, 2020, Harrington wrote:
I TOOK AN OATH TO PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION FROM ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC THAT DAY IS HERE ON THE LAND OF THE USA THE ENEMY IS THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS BOTH HOUSES ALONG WITH THE SENATE AND TO THE DISCRACE SCOTUS, the pedophilia, homosexuals tranny, Lesbians Abortion Have Corupted the Highest court of the land and congress, it is my solom duty to fight satanic forces of spiritual wickedness in high places ‘NEVER LEAVE A MAN BEHIND’” and “This is my mind made up I will die for our Country if NEED BE BUT NOBODY IS GOING TO TRASH MY COUNTRY ANY LONGER UNDER MY WATCH.
“THESE COMMIES NEED TO PAY FOR THEIR HIGH CRUMES AND TREASONOUS ATTEMPTED COUP,” he continued.
In a message after the riot, Harrington wrote, “We caused the riot because the government devils dont get it[.]”
“He did so despite the violence and chaos all around him and being separated from his girlfriend on the West Front,” prosecutors said. “Harrington planned for violence and brought a respirator mask with him to withstand chemical irritants. He joined the mob, climbed to the Upper West Terrace, and attacked police officers who blocked his advance on the building. Harrington then joined other rioters in pushing a large piece of material against a police line, tried to disarm an officer of his police baton, and resisted officers’ efforts to clear the Upper West Terrace of rioters. Harrington did not leave the Capitol grounds until he was physically ushered away by police at approximately 5:48 p.m.”
Harrington’s public defenders said in their sentencing memo seeking 18 months imprisonment that Harrington regrets his actions. They touted the Navy veteran’s service record. He enlisted during the Vietnam War when he was 18, served on an aircraft carrier from 1974 to 1979, and reenlisted as a reservist in 1992 at age 37, serving in Iraq twice.
“He recognizes now that these actions were foolish, dishonorable, and out of line with his sense of right and wrong,” the memo said. “He is sorry, has repented of his mistakes, and promises the Court to never let himself be put in a similar position again.”
“Looking to the whole of Mr. Harrington’s life, it will become clear that his actions on January 6, 2021 were a criminal blip on an otherwise admirable life,” the memo added.
