Former Marine Charged in Riots Hurled ‘Sharpened Pole’ at Capitol Police: Feds
A former Marine charged with assaulting police officers during the Capitol riots with a hockey stick also launched a massive, “sharpened pole” at cops during his attack, authorities revealed.
Michael Joseph Foy, a 30-year-old from Westland, Michigan, was charged Friday with several crimes, including obstruction of law enforcement and forcibly assaulting an officer, after striking cops with a hockey stick “at least 10 times” during the Jan. 6 riots. In a detention memo filed Sunday evening, federal prosecutors also revealed that at one point during the melee, Foy “threw what appears to be a sharpened pole at the officers.”
“Foy’s actions on January 6 were among the most violent of all participants,” prosecutors state in a 15-page detention memo arguing for Foy to be held as he awaits trial. “Foy is both a danger to the community and poses a risk of nonappearance.”
During a Monday hearing, a federal magistrate judge ordered Foy, who served 5 years in the Marine Corps and is trained in combat, to remain behind bars after prosecutors played footage of his violent attack for the court. Foy's court-appointed attorney argued that his client has had a hard time adjusting to civilian life after he was discharged from duty.
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In the detention memo, prosecutors state that moments after Foy threw the pole at the officers trying to defend the Capitol from thousands of MAGA supporters, rioters rushed officers and knocked one to the ground.
“The scene is chaotic, graphic, and brutal. Rioters hurled projectiles at the officers and physically assaulted them, often using weapons like poles, bottles, and in Foy’s case, a hockey stick,” the detention memo states. “Several officers were dragged into the crowd, stripped of their protective gear, and beaten. Other rioters used crowbars and other tools to knock the windows out of the Capitol so rioters could enter.”
Prosecutors state Foy jumped at the opportunity to attack the cops, “immediately rushing towards the officers with his hockey stick raised.” The memo adds that videos from the insurrection show the former Marine “violently assaulting Capitol Police Officers—including [one] officer on the ground, unable to fully protect himself.”
Video captured from inside the mob shows that Foy “swung (and appears to have struck officers with) his hockey stick no fewer than 10 times.” The assault was captured in a New York Times video and on body-camera footage from one of the officers on the ground who was hit by Foy’s hockey stick, prosecutors state.
After Foy repeatedly beat officers “in the face, head, neck, and body area,” he took “a leadership role in the chaos” and encouraged the crowd to charge into the Capitol through broken windows, the memo notes. Foy crawled through a broken window into the Capitol with his hockey stick in hand.
“Foy’s actions were some of the most aggressive and violent at the January 6 riot. Far from a mere participant, Foy took a leadership role: he personally attacked officers and appears to have led others into the Capitol,” the memo states.
The memo notes that Foy’s conduct has only “escalated” since he participated in a Nov. 6 protest at the TCF Center in Detroit. The rally, where Foy was pictured wrapped in an American flag, was held in support of former President Donald Trump and in outrage over the election results in Michigan—where President Joe Biden won. There is no indication Foy brought a weapon to the Nov. 6 protest—a stark contrast to the violent assault at the Capitol just two months later.
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Prosecutors also expressed concern over Foy’s alleged substance abuse, noting the 30-year-old reported drinking “ten beers per day, as recently as January 20—the day before he was arrested.”
Foy has access to two long guns at his home. His mother, who offered to be his “third-party custodian” if he was released, also has about 10 firearms in her home but said she would remove her weapons, prosecutors said.
“Michael Foy poses a demonstrated danger to the community and to himself if released on bond. He stormed the Capitol and assaulted police officers. His conduct was more than violent, it was reckless. The severity of his conduct coupled with his current mental health issues make Foy a danger to the community and to himself,” the memo reads.
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