A Florida man who breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while wearing a costume panda head was convicted Friday of assaulting a police officer and other charges related to the events of that day.
The man, Jesse James Rumson, 38, who became known as Sedition Panda, was found guilty of eight total charges, two felonies and six misdemeanors after a bench trial in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was convicted by Judge Carl Nichols.
Rumson and a friend drove from Florida to Washington on Jan. 5, 2021. The next day, he donned a large panda head and attended Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on the Ellipse, according to court records.
After the rally, he marched to the Capitol and joined thousands of other rioters who breached the restricted perimeter around the building.
Video footage showed that Rumson approached an area near the northwest stairs and watched the mob try to get past a line of outnumbered police officers, prosecutors said.
He was among the first rioters to enter the building after another person breached the door. Inside, Rumson got into a fight with police officers, was pepper-sprayed and was ultimately handcuffed.
He lost his costume panda head in the scuffle.
Rumson managed to get free of the handcuffs and left the building before joining a clash against a police line outside. He was at the front of a mob pushing against officers and was at one point pushed back, according to court records.
“Undeterred, however, he charged back at the line, where he reached up with his right hand and grasped the face shield” of a Prince George’s County Police corporal, prosecutors said. Rumson then yanked on the face shield and whipped the corporal’s head down and backward, causing the officer to fall over in pain.
In court Friday, Nichols said the evidence presented was damning, NBC News reported. The judge said that it was clear Rumson knew he was committing a crime by being on the grounds with the mob and that his conduct was “no accident.”
Rumson was arrested in Lecanto, Florida, last year and charged with two federal felony offenses of civil disobedience and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers as well as six misdemeanor offenses related to trespassing and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds.
Rumson’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 5.
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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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