DC man who assaulted police on Jan. 6 sentenced to five-year prison term

by Olafimihan Oshin - 07/26/22 3:17 PM ET

A Washington, D.C.-area man has been sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting police officers during the Jan 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.

Mark K. Ponder was sentenced on Tuesday in a D.C. court after pleading guilty to assaulting three police officers during the insurrection, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) news release.

Court documents state that at approximately 2:31 p.m. on Jan. 6, Ponder ran out from the crowd of other rioters who stormed the West Plaza of the building to swing a long, thin pole at a Capitol Police officer in the area.

Ponder’s action resulted in the officer’s riot shield, which he used to protect himself, breaking into two pieces, with part of the pole Ponder used flying off to the side.

Moments after heading back into the rioting crowd, Ponder rearmed himself with a new, thicker pole that was colored with red, white and blue stripes. The DOJ said that around 2:32 p.m., he used the new weapon to assault another Capitol police officer, who also blocked the move with his riot shield.

At approximately 2:48 p.m., Ponder joined a rioting crowd that faced off against a line of Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers at the Capitol’s Upper West Terrace, using the same striped pole to swing at the MPD line and strike a police officer in the shoulder.

Ponder’s sentencing comes after authorities have arrested more than 850 individuals for their involvement in the Capitol insurrection, which resulted in the deaths of five people. Two hundred and sixty of those individuals have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement on that day.

Ponder, 56, was arrested by authorities roughly two months after the insurrection, pleading guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon in April.

In addition to his five-year prison sentence, Ponder must pay restitution of $2,000 and will be placed on supervised release for three years following the end of his prison term, the DOJ said.