PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A 72-year-old King of Prussia man is sentenced to almost four years in federal prison for his role in the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Howard Richardson pleaded guilty in April to repeatedly hitting a Washington, D.C. Metro Police officer with a Trump flag pole outside the Capitol during the insurrection.
“Your presence and actions in joining other insurrectionists was an inexcusable attack on our democracy," said U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
Charging documents say Richardson can be heard in video from police officers’ body cameras yelling “here it comes” as he reaches over barricades and swings the flagpole. He hit the officer three times before the flag pole broke.
Richardson initially told FBI agents the officer swung something at him first, but he changed his story when he was shown the video.
He was quoted in the statement of facts as saying, “I’m not saying this is the best behavior I could have done here,” but the statement says he went on to say he was provoked by others in the crowd.
A search of Richardson’s home led to the discovery of clothes he wore at the Capitol, along with a day planner describing the day’s events.
Richardson has to pay $2,000 in restitution, and his 46-month prison sentence is followed by three years of supervised release.
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At the time, Richardson was out on bail for two open cases in Montgomery County. One is for aggravated assault, as he is accused of pulling a man off of a motorcycle. In the other, he is accused of carrying an unlicensed firearm.
Richardson's sentence is one of the longest yet among those who have been prosecuted for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 to disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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