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North Carolina rioter wearing a Blue Lives Matter shirt on January 6th attacked police officers and pleads guilty

North Carolina rioter wearing a Blue Lives Matter shirt on January 6th attacked police officers and pleads guilty

A couple traded their small town in North Carolina for the chaos on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. On Monday, one of the couple pleaded guilty to the itinerary.

After traveling to Washington, D.C. wearing matching “Blue Lives Matter” sweatshirts, the two breached the walls of Metropolitan Police Department officers outside the Capitol, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“Those knuckles there, from one of those motherfuckers in the Capitol,” Curtis Davis says in a video he took of his injured hand while in Washington with Tanya Bishop.

Davis stormed into the Capitol Rotunda at 3 p.m. that day, joining a crowd of rioting Donald Trump supporters outraged by his false claims of election fraud. There, Davis “violently assaulted an officer” and grabbed his baton.

From Snow Hill to Capitol Hill: North Carolina couple arrested after FBI investigation into January 6 riots

By 3:09 p.m., he had already struck an officer’s face shield and another officer’s head, according to court documents. He also used a police riot shield – which he ripped from an officer’s hand – to push rioters into the wall of law enforcement that lined the Capitol.

After being ejected from the rotunda, he spun in circles to deliver more blows, according to recovered footage and bodycam videos.

Tanya Bishop of Greene County, North Carolina, stands on top of a police car during the riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. She faces felony and misdemeanor charges after being at the Capitol that day as part of an FBI investigation.Tanya Bishop of Greene County, North Carolina, stands on top of a police car during the riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. She faces felony and misdemeanor charges after being at the Capitol that day as part of an FBI investigation.

Tanya Bishop of Greene County, North Carolina, stands on top of a police car during the riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. She faces felony and misdemeanor charges after being at the Capitol that day as part of an FBI investigation.

An FBI agent investigated the couple’s involvement after someone called in a tip in October 2021, court documents show. The Greene County Sheriff identified Davis and said Davis had previous dealings with police and was last arrested about a month after the Feb. 5, 2021, riot.

The FBI arrested Davis nearly three years later, on December 8, 2023, in Snow Hill, a town in eastern North Carolina with fewer than 2,000 residents.

The 45-year-old pleaded guilty on Monday to assaulting certain officers, resisting arrest and obstructing their work before U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta, who will sentence Davis on October 18.

Bishop, Davis’ partner, is scheduled for a hearing on June 27. If both are convicted, they will join at least 30 North Carolina defendants who were already sentenced on January 6.

In the 41 months since January 6, 2021, more than 1,450 people have been charged with crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol in nearly all 50 states, including more than 500 people with assault or obstructing law enforcement, a felony. Investigations are ongoing.