Brian Christopher Mock was sentenced for assaulting officers on Jan. 6, 2021, during the U.S. Capitol attack. (Photos from court documents)
A Minnesota man who assaulted four police officers and carried a baton as a weapon at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, then bragged that he “beat the s— out of a police officer,” was sentenced to prison, authorities said on Thursday.
Brian Christopher Mock, 44, was sentenced to 33 months in prison, 24 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,710 in restitution and fines by U.S. District Court Chief Judge James E. Boasberg — a Barack Obama appointee. The sentence is significantly lower than the potential maximum 20 years behind bars he could have received, as well as a steep departure from the prosecutors’ request of 109 months in prison.
Following a bench trial in July, Mock was convicted of six felonies, including obstruction of an official proceeding, obstructing police officers during a civil disorder, and four counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers. He was also convicted of various misdemeanors, including theft, trespassing, and disorderly conduct, the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted in a news release.
He asked the judge for leniency, saying, “I’m not someone who showed up in tactical gear, with tasers and bear spray. It’s a moment that I got caught up in,” The Associated Press reported.
In his sentencing memo, Mock, a father of four boys and owner of a landscaping business, asked the court for a sentence of time served with a period of supervised release to allow him to demonstrate the “transformation he has achieved is real and lasting.”
“As the letters submitted on his behalf note, he is not the same person as he was upon his arrest or even his release from custody,” his public defender wrote in the document. “He has grown, matured, and become much more self-reflective.”
But the judge didn’t buy it, saying he went there expecting violence on Jan. 6. Authorities pointed to evidence that included a Facebook post he wrote on Jan. 8 saying, “I went to the Capitol not knowing what to expect but said goodbye to my 4 children, not sure if I was going to come home. I was at peace with that knowledge.”
“So it’s hard to think you came simply as a bystander,” Boasberg told the defendant, according to The Associated Press.
Mock traveled to Washington from Minneapolis with other Donald Trump supporters for the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington and to protest Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
Authorities said he called for “total rebellion” and “a complete destruction of the Federal government” on social media and expected violence, telling a family member he might die there.
On the Capitol’s west plaza, he helped rioters remove a bike rack barricade and pushed an officer who had fallen as the crowd pushed forward, authorities said.
He grabbed a flagpole, broke it in half, and hurled it “like a spear” at the line of officers, authorities said. He shoved one officer in the back and another in the chest, sending that officer into concrete steps in excruciating pain.
As the officers retreated, Mock picked up two police riot shields lying on the ground and passed them back to rioters as the mob pressed forward and officers tried to stop them by spraying mace, a moment commemorated in a photo Mock posted later showing one reddened eye that appears irritated. At one point, Mock found a police baton and carried it around “as a weapon,” authorities said.
Mock was arrested in Minnesota on June 11, 2021, after authorities said they received numerous tips including one from his oldest son, the New York Times reported. The tips noted his own words on social media and text messages to friends appearing to brag about what he had done, officials said.
In one, he boasted to a friend — “Got sprayed directly 3 times, took a flash bang and took down at least 6 cops” and “I took 3 gates 2 shields and a bunch of equipment. I shouldn’t have thrown ’em.”
In another, he wrote, “Teargassed 6 times, pepper sprayed, and mustard gassed at the end. But we stayed true to being Patriots, marched to the Capital [sic] and stormed the Frontline … no regrets … ashamed of the blue that harmed everyone there to stand for the cause[.]”
One tipster reported to the FBI that Mock “has a criminal history involving guns and seems to be an extremist.” The FBI confirmed Mock had a firearms-related conviction in 2010.
A tipster said Mock went to Washington and came home “bragging about beating up cops and destroying property in the capital,” telling someone he knew well he “beat the s— out of a police officer.”
In the 37 months since the attacks, more than 1,313 people have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach, including more than 469 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony, officials have said.
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