US attorney says untold number of police officers injured while protecting Capitol on January 6

(CNN) — The Justice Department believes more police officers were injured in the US Capitol attack than have been officially reported, a top prosecutor said Thursday.

Posted 9:57 p.m. Jan 4 — Updated 9:57 p.m. Jan 4

Holmes Lybrand

and

Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

CNN — (CNN) — The Justice Department believes more police officers were injured in the US Capitol attack than have been officially reported, a top prosecutor said Thursday.

In a news conference commemorating the third anniversary of the US Capitol attack, Matthew Graves, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said that January 6, 2021, was “likely the largest single-day, mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history.”

“One hundred and forty officers guarding the Capitol that day reported physical injury, but we know from talking to the hundreds of officers guarding the Capitol that day that this 140 number undercounts the number of officers who were physically injured, let alone those who have suffered trauma as a result of the day’s events,” Graves said.

Several officers have spoken publicly about the barrage of violence they endured on January 6, including those who say they have experienced continuing emotional trauma. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick suffered strokes and died of natural causes one day after the riot, and four other officers committed suicide in the days and months afterward.

In the three years since the Capitol attack, more than 1,200 people have been charged with participating in the riots, according to the FBI. Of those individuals, 452 were charged for assaulting law enforcement officers, the bureau said in a statement Thursday.

Prosecutors also have secured hundreds of criminal convictions in court, including 149 people convicted of assault, 41 people convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon, 87 people convicted of obstruction, and 27 people convicted of entering and remaining on federal grounds with a dangerous weapon.

More than 80 people are still wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol, Graves said, and investigators continue to seek the public’s help in identifying those individuals.

Fugitive Proud Boy who faked an overdose to delay sentencing gets 10 years in January

A Proud Boy who cut his ankle monitor and became a fugitive for weeks after he was convicted of assaulting police officers during the January 6 attack was sentenced to a decade behind bars on Thursday.

Christopher Worrell, 52, of Florida, was found guilty in May of six felony counts, including assaulting officers with a deadly weapon, as well as one misdemeanor count.

Before his trial, Worrell was released from jail in late 2021 after a surprise inspection of the facility found that some detainees were being mistreated. The judge overseeing his case was concerned the jail wouldn’t be able to properly treat Worrell’s cancer and ordered him to be released on home detention.

But according to the Justice Department, four days before he was set to be sentenced in August, Worrell cut off his ankle monitor in a Walmart parking lot.

“Worrell’s disappearance triggered an FBI manhunt that culminated six weeks later in his arrest at his home in Naples,” the Justice Department said in announcing his sentence Thursday. “In addition to an unresponsive Worrell, the FBI also found night-vision goggles, a wallet with approximately $4,000 in cash, and a bag with new camping gear inside.”

According to the Justice Department, Worrell admitted to faking an opioid overdose to delay the sentencing and sheriff deputies were posted in his hospital room “during his five-day alleged recovery.”

During the Capitol attack, Worrell spayed pepper gel at a line of officers protecting the building and bragged later that he “deployed a whole can,” according to prosecutors.

Worrell also was sentenced to three years of supervised release following his time in prison.

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