Trial date set for Chicago police officer charged in Capitol attack

Annie Sweeney, Chicago Tribune
·2 min read
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A trial date has been set for a Chicago Police officer charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol and charging into a Democratic senator’s office on Jan. 6.

Karol Chwiesiuk appeared Tuesday in a Washington D.C. federal courtroom via videoconference, where he rejected the government’s offer of a plea deal and instead requested a trial date, according to court records.

Under the proposed deal, Chwiesiuk would have pleaded guilty to one petty misdemeanor count and faced up to six months in prison, said his Chicago attorney Nishay Sanan.

The government also was seeking his cooperation as part of the deal, Sanan said.

Chwiesiuk verbally rejected the deal in court and Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly set a May 1 trial date.

Chwiesiuk was stripped of his police powers and reassigned to desk duty the week the charges were announced. He is currently in a no-pay status and is on a leave of absence as an internal investigation continues, a department spokesperson said.

Chwiesiuk faces five misdemeanor counts, including entering a restricted building, disrupting government business and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds with intent to impede a congressional proceeding.

A 19-page complaint filed against Chwiesiuk in June 2021 alleges he broke into Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office with the throng that stormed the building and took a selfie showing him grinning and wearing a hoodie with the Chicago Police Department logo on it.He also allegedly sent texts to a friend saying “Busy planning how to (expletive) up commies” prosecutors said. That text allegedly was sent two days before he traveled to Washington to attend a rally for then-President Donald Trump, according to prosecutors.

His attorney at the time he was charged said he had been a Chicago police officer since 2018 and was most recently assigned to patrol the Harrison District.

A 2010 graduate of Notre Dame College Prep in Niles, Chwiesiuk earned two degrees from the University of Missouri and was a Cook County sheriff’s deputy before joining the Chicago Police Department.