Retired NYPD officer convicted in Jan. 6 police assault case
Thomas Webster, a retired New York Police Department officer, was found guilty on Monday of assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Webster, 56, of Goshen, New York, is the first person tried on charges of assaulting a law enforcement officer during the events of Jan. 6.
During the trial, prosecutors showed footage of Webster pushing a metal bike rack barrier into Noah Rathbun, a Washington, D.C., police officer. Rathbun then knocked Webster back, and in response, Webster began swinging an aluminum flagpole before tackling the officer. Webster claimed Rathbun was taunting him, and he acted in self defense.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
After deliberating for around three hours, a federal jury found Webster guilty on all six counts, including interfering with police in a riot, disorderly conduct, and violent conduct while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds. Sentencing is set for September.
Webster served as a Marine Corps infantryman from 1985 to 1989, and while an NYPD officer, was on the protective security detail of former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. A married father of three, Webster retired from the NYPD in 2011.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
5 Senate-approved cartoons on the Trump confirmation hearings
Cartoons Artists take on non-answers, drunken rhetoric, and more
By The Week US Published
-
The best new cars for 2025
The Week Recommends From family SUVs to luxury all-electrics these are the most hotly anticipated vehicles
By The Week UK Published
-
Jean-Marie Le Pen: rabble-rousing co-founder of the French National Front
In the Spotlight Once called the 'most hated man in France', Le Pen maintained that his ideas were simply 'ahead of their time'
By The Week UK Published
-
Police ID driver of exploded Cybertruck, can't see motive
Speed Read An Army Green Beret detonated a homemade bomb in a Tesla Cybertruck in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Teenage girl kills 2 in Wisconsin school shooting
Speed Read 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow fatally shot a teacher and student at Abundant Life Christian School
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Penny acquitted in NYC subway choking death
Speed Read Daniel Penny was found not guilty of homicide in the 2023 choking death of Jordan Neely
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Suspect in CEO shooting caught, charged with murder
Speed Read Police believe 26-year-old Luigi Mangione killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
UnitedHealthcare CEO killed in 'brazen, targeted' hit
Speed Read Police are conducting a massive search for Brian Thompson's shooter
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
DOJ demands changes at 'abhorrent' Atlanta jail
Speed Read Georgia's Fulton County Jail subjects inmates to 'unconstitutional' conditions, the 16-month investigation found
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
China tries to bury deadly car attack
Speed Read An SUV drove into a crowd of people in Zhuhai, killing and injuring dozens — but news of the attack has been censored
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Menendez brothers may go free in LA prosecutor plan
Speed Read Prosecutors are asking for the brothers to be resentenced for the 1989 murder of their parents
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published