A Michigan man was charged with several felonies Thursday for allegedly beating a police officer with a hockey stick during the Capitol Building riot, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Michael Joseph Foy was charged with obstruction of law enforcement, forcibly assaulting an officer, and engaging in disorderly conduct in a restricted building, among other crimes, according to a criminal complaint by the FBI. Foy was allegedly captured in footage showing him carrying a hockey stick outside and inside the Capitol Building, which pro-Trump rioters stormed on Jan. 6 as the Senate was scheduled to certify Electoral College votes.
NEW: DOJ arrests and charges Michael Joseph Foy of Michigan after IDing him as man seen attacking MPD officer with a hockey stick during the insurrection. The attack lasted for 16 seconds, per FBI affidavit. pic.twitter.com/K0QuLH6gIg
— Alex Mallin (@alex_mallin) January 21, 2021
The FBI said that it had received a tip through its Twitter account a few days after the incident, with a picture of a male carrying a hockey stick and a message that said “This is the man that killed the police officer. He hit him with a hockey-stick over and over in the head.” No evidence corroborated that an officer died because of such actions, but the FBI identified Foy in several photos and videos carrying a hockey stick. (RELATED: Members Of ‘Straight Pride’ Group Arrested In Connection With Capitol Building Riot)
In one video from an online New York Times article, an individual that the FBI identified as Foy was seen “aggressively” swinging the hockey stick “at an individual lying on the ground.” The article notes that the video was taken during the attack of an officer, and “shows the man with the hockey stick lifting the stick above his head and swinging it down rapidly, striking an individual on the ground several times.”
“At no point does it appear that the individual on the ground is acting aggressively, nor does it appear that the attack is justified,” the statement says.
Foy’s Facebook also allegedly featured multiple photos of him at the Capitol the day of the riot, with an American flag draped over his shoulders, holding a hockey stick with a Trump flag attached to it.
A YouTube video showed another angle of the attack, which the FBI says Foy is seen in, striking a group of Metropolitan Police officers that were helping to protect Capitol Police officers who had been knocked down by rioters. At one point in the video, Foy shows a clear image of his face and raises his hockey stick and shouts something indistinguishable from the rest of the noise in the crowd. He then allegedly motioned to others while pointing at the Capitol Building, shouting what appeared to be “Let’s Go.”
He is soon seen “crawling through a broken window into the U.S. Capitol,” according to the FBI statement.
The complaint says Foy had participated in a Trump rally a few days after the presidential election.
Here’s a @Rod_Sanford photo of Michael Joseph Foy at a rally in Lansing in November.
“FBI arrests Wixom man accused of hockey stick assault at U.S. Capitol storming” https://t.co/B1AwrdzV36 (Story by @DNBethLeBlanc) pic.twitter.com/lcXuo6shK9
— Craig Mauger (@CraigDMauger) January 21, 2021
Foy made his first court appearance Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, according to Fox 10.
More than 145 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol Building riot, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has opened more than 170 subject files with expectations that the number of charges would grow into the hundreds.