‘HERE IT COMES!’

71-Year-Old Man Beat Officer With Trump Flag Until Pole Broke on Jan. 6: Prosecutors

Howard Richardson is said to have kept a detailed summary of the day’s events in a spiral-bound day planner.

A 71-year-old man is facing federal charges after investigators say he beat a Washington, D.C., police officer with a pro-Trump flag until the metal pole broke in his hands during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. Body camera footage of the insurrection appears to show Howard Richardson approaching an officer, yelling, “Here it comes!” and striking the man three times. Richardson was charged Thursday with assault using a dangerous weapon or inflicting bodily injury.

Though Richardson’s phone ran out of batteries prior to the riot, he is said to have kept a meticulously detailed summary of the day’s events in a spiral-bound day planner. The notebook was found by federal agents searching his home after his October arrest for an unrelated incident of alleged assault. Richardson “wrote that he parked at 11:00 a.m., was at the front of the Capitol building at 12:15 p.m., ‘gates were breeched’ at 1:00 p.m., and ‘got pepper sprayed’ at 2:00 p.m.” in the diary, according to court documents.