{"id":1647039,"date":"2022-09-19T11:23:34","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T15:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1647039"},"modified":"2022-09-19T11:25:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T15:25:17","slug":"jan-6-defendant-maced-twice-by-dc-jail-guard-refused-bail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jan-6-defendant-maced-twice-by-dc-jail-guard-refused-bail\/","title":{"rendered":"Jan. 6 Defendant Maced Twice by DC Jail Guard Refused Bail"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjan-6-defendant-maced-twice-by-dc-jail-guard-refused-bail%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1647039&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has referred to Ronald C. McAbee as a &#8216;terrorist&#8217; who committed &#8216;insurrection&#8217;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Despite audio and video evidence showing former Tennessee sheriff\u2019s deputy Ronald Colton McAbee did not assault a police officer on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-capitol\">Capitol<\/a> steps on Jan. 6 as alleged by prosecutors, a federal judge again refused the defendant\u2019s motion to be released from the District of Columbia jail pending trial.<\/p>\n<p>The issue took on added urgency on Sept. 5 when McAbee, 28, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/mkt_eet\/exclusive-jan-6-prisoners-and-families-expose-brutal-truth-about-jail-lockdown_4714149.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">twice assaulted<\/a> with chemical spray by a guard in the District of Columbia jail for not wearing a COVID mask, his wife Sarah told The Epoch Times<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is just inhumane,\u201d Sarah McAbee said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t even matter what your political beliefs are. You should never treat somebody that way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre we living in the same universe?\u201d she asked. \u201cThis is not the America I once knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McAbee is charged by federal prosecutors with seven Jan. 6-related crimes: assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer; two counts of civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and committing an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.<\/p>\n<p>McAbee was outside the Lower West Terrace tunnel during some of the worst violence on Jan. 6, 2021. Several times, he tried to render lifesaving aid to a dying <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/exclusive-jan-6-bodycam-footage-shows-officer-repeatedly-striking-unconscious-protester-with-wooden-stick_4430813.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rosanne Boyland,<\/a> 34, of Kennesaw, Georgia. His interactions with Metropolitan Police Department officers resulted in most of the charges. They also served as justification for a U.S. District Court judge to reverse a Tennessee judge\u2019s order and keep McAbee in jail for 397 days\u2014and counting.<\/p>\n<h2>Pepper Spray for Not Masking<\/h2>\n<p>Ronald McAbee walked out of his cell at the D.C. Central Treatment Facility about 11:30 a.m. EDT on Sept. 5 to retrieve his medication from a cart in the hallway, his wife said.<\/p>\n<p>Lieutenant Crystal Lancaster shouted at him to put on a COVID mask, Sarah McAbee said. When he continued to walk toward the cart without a mask, the guard sprayed him point-blank in the face with oleoresin capsicum (OC), a harsh chemical irritant that burns the eyes, skin, and mucous membranes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe sprayed him and he was like, \u2018Did you really just spray me?\u2019 \u201d Sarah McAbee said. \u201c[The\u00a0Lieutenant] told another corporal in there to handcuff him. And as they were handcuffing him, she sprayed him again in the face. I mean inches away from his face. And they threw him on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Three other Jan. 6 detainees\u2014Ron Sandlin, Bart Shively, and Ryan Nichols\u2014 began shouting at Lancaster to stop the attack on McAbee, his wife said. Those men were also sprayed and handcuffed. All four were threatened with prosecution. McAbee was threatened with charges of assault and causing a riot, his wife said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4623554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/07\/26\/McAbee_Ronald_Sarah2-1200x861.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail wp-image-4623554\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/07\/26\/McAbee_Ronald_Sarah2-700x420.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"384\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-january-6\">January 6<\/a> detainee Ronald McAbee with his wife Sarah. McAbee was denied release from jail for a second time since October 2021. (Sarah McAbee\/Special to The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<p>But Sarah McAbee said she is considering legal action against the jail, Lt. Lancaster, and the U.S. Marshals Service.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne, there was no riot in the pod that day,\u201d Sarah McAbee said. \u201cAnd two, he was the one being assaulted. How can you charge him with assault?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McAbee said the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for all federal prisoners and pretrial detainees, told her an investigation of the attack is ongoing. It is being handled by an independent third-party investigator, she\u2019s been told.<\/p>\n<p>After being discharged from medical and thrown in the shower, McAbee later begged to rinse off the remaining oily OC residue when it reactivated. Guards told him to \u201csuck it up\u201d and made him wait 12 hours to shower again, Sarah McAbee said.<\/p>\n<p>Oleoresin capsicum can cause skin blisters, inflamed airways, hypoxia, eyelid spasms, cornea burns, elevated heart rate, and severe nausea, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/phr.org\/our-work\/resources\/health-impacts-of-crowd-control-weapons-chemical-irritants-tear-gas-and-pepper-spray\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)<\/a>. It is banned for use in warfare but legal for law-enforcement purposes. It can be fatal if not used properly.<\/p>\n<p>Chemical irritants attack temperature and pain receptors, causing a sensation that McAbee described as like jumping into a hot tub with severe sunburn.<\/p>\n<p>Irritant sprays allow a stream of \u201cpotentially higher doses of the chemical agent to directly strike targeted people or groups,\u201d PHR said in a report (<a href=\"https:\/\/phr.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/PHR_INCLO_Fact_Sheets_Chemical_Irritants.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) on the use of tear gas and pepper spray by law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Marshals also did not realize for about a week that McAbee had been moved across the street from the Central Treatment\u00a0Facility to the Central Detention Facility after the attack, his wife said.<\/p>\n<p>The Marshals Service moved some 400 inmates and detainees out of the Central Detention Facility in November 2021 after a surprise inspection (<a href=\"https:\/\/s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22418197\/statement-by-the-us-marshals-service-recent-inspection-of-dc-jail-facilities.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) found inhumane living conditions. The Central Treatment Facility was found adequate, although there have been persistent complaints about abuse of Jan. 6 defendants by staff since then. Both facilities are run by the D.C. Department of Corrections.<\/p>\n<h2>Judge Again Denies Bail<\/h2>\n<p>McAbee said she was disappointed but not surprised that U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected her husband\u2019s latest motion to be released to home detention until trial. Her attorneys will petition the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for a review of the ruling, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, this sat in front of him for 117 days before he ruled on it,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I think he only ruled on it because the appellate court came down and said, you either rule on it or you have a hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4623471\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/07\/26\/McAbee_Boyland-1200x748.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-post-thumbnail wp-image-4623471\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/McAbee_Boyland-700x420-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"384\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail wp-image-4623471\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/McAbee_Boyland-700x420-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"384\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Ronald McAbee renders aid to a pulseless Rosanne Boyland outside the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Graphic by The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<p>Sullivan took 69 days to issue his written opinion denying McAbee bail in December 2021.<\/p>\n<p>In a 31-page ruling (<a href=\"https:\/\/s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22279405\/govuscourtsdcd2342202180.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) dated Sept. 3, Sullivan dismissed McAbee\u2019s new video and audio evidence, calling them \u201cambiguities\u201d that the court \u201ccould not resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McAbee\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/exclusive-video-used-to-charge-jan-6-defendant-exonerates-him-on-charge-of-assaulting-police-attorney-says_4619418.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filing for reconsideration<\/a> of bail cited audio evidence from Metropolitan Police Department officer Andrew Wyatt\u2019s bodycam, which showed that McAbee didn\u2019t assault Wyatt while he lay on the concrete steps, but assured him he would help him up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no evidence\u2014it did not happen as admitted by the government\u2014that Mr. McAbee assaulted Officer AW while Officer AW was in that vulnerable position,\u201d attorney William Shipley wrote in the motion filed May 9.<\/p>\n<h2>Does Not Pose a Danger<\/h2>\n<p>Jeffery Frensley, a U.S. magistrate judge in the Middle District of Tennessee, ordered McAbee released\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22417904\/mcabee-detention-hearings-before-magistrate-judge-jeffery-frensley.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) to home detention pending trial after hearings in August and early September 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not believe that Mr. McAbee poses a future danger to the community if he were to be released between now and the time that he resolves this case,\u201d Frensley said. \u201cAnd the government, despite my request that they provide me any evidence that he\u2019s presented any sort of a danger to the community, have been able to point to absolutely nothing beyond the events around and during January the 6th.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors immediately appealed and Judge Sullivan stayed Frensley\u2019s order until Oct. 13, 2021, when he made an oral ruling that McAbee would remain jailed. Sullivan\u2019s memorandum opinion on Dec. 21, 2021, said it would be impossible to guarantee the public\u2019s safety without keeping McAbee behind bars.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Sullivan disputed McAbee\u2019s contention that the court \u201cmade its determination by pronouncing his factual guilt\u201d and that the judge sidestepped \u201ccertain uncontroverted video evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe court rejects both arguments,\u201d Sullivan wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah McAbee said watching the video without the associated audio track could lead anyone to draw the wrong conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way the videos are portrayed, it looks very damning,\u201d she said. \u201cUntil you get the audio and you look at the video for what it\u2019s worth, you realize his feet never move from the position that he\u2019s in when he\u2019s protecting Wyatt. While you listen to him say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m helping you.\u2019 Then they get up together.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4434413\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/04\/28\/Rosanne_Assault25-1200x618.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-post-thumbnail wp-image-4434413\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Rosanne_Assault25-700x420-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"384\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail wp-image-4434413\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Rosanne_Assault25-700x420-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"384\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Ronald McAbee (wearing \u201csheriff\u201d patch) stands at the police line on the Lower West Terrace as a Metropolitan Police Department officer (right) attacks protester Rosanne Boyland with a walking stick. (Metropolitan Police Department Bodycam\/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<p>Judge Sullivan said he made no conclusions about McAbee\u2019s guilt or innocence in the case. However, during a hearing on Sept. 22, 2021, Sullivan suggested that McAbee is a terrorist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt appears clearly to this court that the defendant is pulling the officer back into the crowd of other terrorists,\u201d Sullivan said, according to the official court transcript (<a href=\"https:\/\/s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22418150\/court-transcript-detention-hearing-before-judge-emmet-sullivan-sept-22-2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t call someone a terrorist on record and then say you aren\u2019t biased,\u201d Sarah McAbee said.<\/p>\n<p>In his Sept. 3, ruling, Sullivan said there is \u201cindisputable evidence\u201d that McAbee committed \u201cinsurrection,\u201d a crime neither he nor any other Jan. 6 defendant is charged with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. McAbee\u2019s text messages corroborate that he planned to and actually participated in the insurrection,\u201d Sullivan wrote. In another section of the decision, Sullivan concluded that McAbee engaged in \u201cphysical and violent\u201d behavior.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a law enforcement officer, he should understand the gravity and egregiousness of such conduct\u2014but nevertheless, he chose to act in this manner,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cIt is no \u2018Catch-22\u2019 that the court takes seriously charges that someone tasked with enforcing the law has shirked that responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-joe-hanneman\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/WEB_JoeHanneman.jpg\" alt=\"Joseph M. Hanneman\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Joseph M. Hanneman is a reporter for The Epoch Times with a focus on the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol incursion and its aftermath; and general news in the State of Wisconsin. His work over a nearly 40-year career has appeared in Catholic World Report, the Racine Journal Times, the Wisconsin State Journal and the Chicago Tribune. Reach him at: joseph.hanneman@epochtimes.us<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has referred to Ronald C. McAbee as a &#8216;terrorist&#8217; who committed &#8216;insurrection&#8217;Despite audio and video evidence showing former Tennessee sheriff\u2019s deputy Ronald Colton McAbee did<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1647042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1647039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1647039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1647042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1647039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1647039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1647039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}