Wolcott Man Pleads Guilty To Assaulting Officers In Jan. 6 Attack

WOLCOTT, CT — A Wolcott man has pleaded guilty to charges that he assaulted law enforcement with a baton and a wooden pole during the breach of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a statement from prosecutors.

Richard Markey, 38, of Wolcott, was charged in January. He pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He will be sentenced in December.

Markey was among those who disrupted a joint session of Congress dedicated to counting the electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election, according to prosecutors.

According to court documents, on Jan. 5, 2021, Markey traveled from his home in Connecticut to Washington, D.C. The next day he made his way toward the U.S. Capitol building along with thousands of other rioters. Markey eventually made his way to the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement that day, according to prosecutors.

At 3:54 p.m., court documents say that Markey emerged from the riotous mob and climbed on top of other rioters to make his way toward the police line defending the tunnel. Markey began assaulting police officers in the tunnel from his elevated position.

He assaulted police with a baton and later his fists, and in one instance, struck and pulled on a police shield held by two officers, according to prosecutors.

Markey then balanced himself atop the mob of rioters, grabbed the police shield again, and kicked the shield several times with considerable force. Another police officer attempted to stop Markey from assaulting police using a pole, but Markey pulled the pole from the officer's grasp, pointed it at the officer, and screamed, "Oath breaker! Oath breaker! You're not doing your f— job. Listen! I fought for this f— country," prosecutors said.

Markey then used the pole that he wrestled away from the police to continue striking the shield held by the two police officers. Court documents say that Markey assaulted the officers with the pole by striking them with it seven times with such force that on the seventh strike, the pole broke.

Markey struck the shield held by the two officers one final time before discarding the remaining piece. Markey continued to assault police, yelling at them, striking and pushing their shield with his hands, and later turning the shield parallel to the ground to render it ineffective.

The FBI arrested Markey in July in Wolcott.

More than 1,488 people have been charged with crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including nearly 550 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony.