Pennsylvania man Michael John Lopatic attacked police officer, stole someone else’s bodycam during Capitol riots, prosecutors say

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Court records show Lopatic, of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is charged with assault on a police officer, civil disorder, confined property trespassing, physical assault on limited grounds, and disorderly conduct in a restrictive building.

The criminal charge and FBI affidavit filed against Lopatic remain closed, but a motion for custody sheds light on the government’s case against him.

More than 200 people are now being charged in connection with the uprising at the Capitol

According to the motion, an officer from the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was trying to save another officer from rioters outside the Capitol when Lopatic “emerged from the crowd, climbed over a railing and attacked the officer.”

In describing the attack, which was caught on police bodycam video, prosecutors say that Lopatic ‘attacked (the officer) by constantly hitting him in the head’, and that ‘at one point the suspect (the officer) the head and seemed to hit him with an uppercut. “

Prosecutors identified the man in this police bodycam screenshot as Michael John Lopatic, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in a court document.

Prosecutors also said that after the alleged attack, Lopatic “stole and later destroyed the body-worn camera of another MPD officer.” In stealing the bodycam, prosecutors said Lopatic had to break a ‘human shield’ from ‘protesters who were trying to protect (the officer) from the violent crowd’.

According to the motion, Lopatic told FBI agents that he stole and removed the bodycam while traveling back home from the riot.

In the months and weeks leading up to the riot, prosecutors also said Lopatic was posting “threatening messages about elected leaders in Washington.” Lopatic reportedly posted some photos of the birds he shot while hunting, writing in the captions that he named them after Democratic politicians.

When they saw a familiar face at the Capitol riots, they reported it to the authorities

“I got a double today,” Lopatic wrote according to a screenshot in the motion. Two shots, two murders. Both headshots. I have a rooster and a chicken. I’ve called them Joe and Kamala. ‘

They also say he wrote Jan. 1 and pleaded for others to “MAKE TOGETHER IN THE CAPITAL JANUARY 6, 2021. TOGETHER WE STAND, MOVE FORWARD AND FIGHT.”

CNN contacted Lopatic’s attorney, who declined to comment on the allegations. Court records show that a federal judge has granted the prosecution’s motion for Lopatic’s pre-trial detention.

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