‘PIECE OF SH*T’

Ex-NYPD Cop Who Attacked an Officer on Jan. 6 Gets the Stiffest Sentence Yet

It was not until Thomas Webster arrived at the Capitol that “all hell broke loose,” a judge said as he handed down a record-setting 10-year sentence.

A retired New York City police officer and Marine Corps veteran who was convicted of attacking law enforcement officers attempting to hold the line at the Capitol was sentenced to a decade in federal prison on Thursday. Thomas Webster, 56, used a metal flagpole to swing at police on Jan. 6, 2021, before crossing a barrier to tackle Metropolitan Police Department Officer Noah Rathbun, attempting to rip off his gas mask. In harrowing video of the insurrection, Webster—wearing body armor—could be seen barking at Rathbun: “You fucking piece of shit. You fucking Commie motherfuckers… Take your shit off.” As Judge Amit Mehta noted during sentencing, “It was not until you arrived, Mr. Webster, that all hell broke loose.” Webster was the first Jan. 6 defendant to be tried on an assault charge, taking the stand to argue that he had been acting in self-defense. A jury didn’t buy it, taking only three hours in May to find him guilty of six charges, five of which were felonies. Webster’s sentence is the longest yet given to a Jan. 6 defendant, but still falls short of the 17.5-year term prosecutors sought.