Trial of Conn. man in Jan. 6 Capitol riot moves to third day

WASHINGTON — The bench trial of a Ridgefield man accused of crushing a police officer with a riot shield at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, will continue into a third day on Wednesday.

Patrick McCaughey III is facing charges in U.S. District

Court for the District of Columbia of assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon and obstructing an official proceeding, according to the latest indictment from a federal grand jury. The indictment also charged eight other co-defendants in the case.

Minute entries on the federal court filing system show the trial was scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday after continuances on Monday and Tuesday.

Authorities allege that as a crowd of rioters mobbed the Capitol during an uprising on Jan. 6, 2021, McCaughey was among a group trying to break in at an entrance at the lower west terrace of the building.

In the deadly event, protesters descended on the Capitol as members of both houses of Congress were gathered to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election with Joe Biden as the winner. The rioters were spurred on by false assertions by former President Donald Trump, who had held a rally earlier that day and said the election had been stolen.

There, prosecutors allege McCaughey was at the front of the group that was trying to break through a line of law enforcement officers in riot gear holding back the wave of protesters.

In a moment caught on video, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges became lodged in a door frame in the scuffle. Prosecutors say McCaughey crushed Hodges into the doorway with a clear police riot shield, causing Hodges to scream in pain, while another rioter ripped off his gas mask.

Hodges was later able to retreat from the spot.

In testimony before the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 riot, Hodges told lawmakers he feared he could have been dragged out and “lynched” by the mob.

McCaughey is also facing charges of disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, and an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building.

Two of McCaughey's co-defendants, Tristan Chandler Stevens and David Mehaffie, are on trial at the same time as McCaughey before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden.

Unlike a jury trial, evidence is instead presented before McFadden to render a verdict in the bench trial.

Three other co-defendants in the case have already been convicted by McFadden for their conduct Jan. 6: Geoffrey Sills, Robert Morss and David Lee Judd.

McFadden issued the court's first outright acquittal of an accused Jan. 6 rioter earlier this year, Politico reported. The defendant, Matthew Martin, of New Mexico, had been charged for entering the Capitol through an entrance at the rotunda. But McFadden said that it was plausible Martin had believed it was OK to enter the Capitol building because police appeared to make no attempt to stop protesters there.

Courtesy of FBI A screengrab from of a video of the mob that entered the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021. Pictured, according to police, is Patrick McCaughey of Ridgefield. McCaughey’s trial was scheduled to continue into its third day Wednesday.