PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Bucks County man has been found guilty of assault charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.
Ryan Samsel, 40, was convicted Friday in Washington of civil disorder and found guilty of assaulting a police officer with a metal crowd control barrier. Prosecutors say he was among the first group to breach the restricted perimeter of the Capitol that day.
He faces additional felony charges of civil disorder, assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a wooden plank.
In June 2021, Samsel asked to be released from federal custody after his lawyer said he was beaten in a Washington, D.C., jail. He was arrested after video evidence showed him outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, pushing and pulling a barricade, and yelling at police officers.
According to officials, while forcing the barricade, he pushed down a female officer who then hit her head on a concrete step and was knocked out.
At the time of the request, federal prosecutors argued Samsel should be held until his trial, noting his “pattern of choking and beating women to the point of loss of consciousness.”
He has a criminal history dating back to 2006 — most of which relate to the beating or harassment of women.
Samsel pleaded guilty in 2017 to assault charges related to a 2015 incident in Bristol Borough, where he is from.
Four other men were also charged Friday: James Tate Grant, 31, of North Carolina; Paul Russell Johnson, 38, of Virginia; Stephen Chase Randolph, 34, of Kentucky; and Jason Benjamin Blythe, 28, of Texas.
They were convicted of civil disorder as well as a misdemeanor charge for committing an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 13.
Since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,230 individuals have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol breach, including more than 440 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.