Bristol Man On Trial For Capitol Riot Attack

BRISTOL, PA —The federal trial of a Bristol man charged with assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on the U.S. Capitol began this week.

Ryan Stephen Samsel, 39, was one of the first people in a widely shared video in which supporters of former President Donald Trump fought officers over a barricade outside the Capitol, according to federal court documents.

His trial began Monday before U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Jia Cobb.

Samsel is on trial for multiple charges, including civil disorder, assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon, entering restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon, engaging in physical violence on restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct in the Capitol, and obstruction of an official proceeding.

Samsel was on trial with James Grant, Paul Johnson, Stephen Randolph, and Jason Blythe where federal prosecutors say they lifted and pushed a metal barricade, driving back the Capitol police officers stationed there.

The five rioters are accused of being the first to breach the initial police line outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The charging document claims Samsel was part of a crowd that, at about 12:50 p.m., walked past a fence line outside the Capitol and approached a second barricade manned by U.S. Capitol Police. Video shows Samsel confronting an officer and then, along with others, pushing and pulling on the barricades, according to the FBI.

He can be seen removing his jacket and turning around what appears to be a red "Make America Great Again" cap "in a manner that appears as if Samsel was preparing for a physical altercation," the documents say.

Samsel and the others pushed and pulled until they pushed the barricades down on top of the officers, the FBI says. Doing so, they knocked down one officer into the stairs behind her, knocking her out, the agent writes.

He says Samsel then picked up the officer and said "We don't have to hurt you. Why are you standing in our way?" Other Capitol Police officers quickly took her away from Samsel and told her to go regroup with other officers. Hours later, according to the FBI, the woman blacked out and collapsed while arresting another rioter.

She was taken to the emergency room of a local hospital, where she was diagnosed with a concussion.

Stanley Woodward Jr., Samsel’s defense attorney, argued it is “not possible to pin the events of Jan. 6 on Samsel” because the video evidence clearly shows a large crowd next to and behind Samsel and his co-defendants, each of whom was just as likely to begin pushing the metal barricades, Courthouse News Service reported.

Woodward and his fellow defense attorneys took issue with the bulk of the charges brought against their clients, specifically the charges involving the use of a dangerous weapon — according to the government, the metal barricade.