Man pleads guilty to assaulting Capitol officer

A California man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to tasering a Washington police officer who was seriously injured while trying to defend the Capitol against an angry mob of President Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Daniel Rodríguez, 40, a resident of Fontana, confessed to taking part in the violent attack on Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone after another of the insurgents dragged him out of the tunnel where police were trying to stop the crowd. A camera captured Fanone, who passed out and suffered a heart attack, desperately screaming that he had children in a desperate plea for his life as he was beaten.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty two weeks before jury selection began for his trial in federal court in Washington. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy, assaulting a police officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and two other counts.

An email seeking comment has been sent to their attorneys. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for May. According to the current standard, they correspond to between 7 and 10 years in prison.

Rodríguez, who has been in prison since March 2021, admitted in an interview with FBI agents that he shot Fanone in the neck with a taser. He told officers that on January 6 he believed he was doing “the right thing” and was ready to die to “save the country”. He cried as he spoke to officers, saying he had been “stupid” and ashamed of his actions.

Rodriguez’s attorneys unsuccessfully tried to exclude his FBI interview from the trial because the agents used “psychologically coercive tactics” to get him to talk.