Marine veteran gets 5 years in prison for injuring Capitol police officer

| June 2, 2024

John George Todd III, Marine veteran, was at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. During the riot, he struggled with a police officer. He pushed against officers inside the Rotunda, ignored police orders, and screamed profanities at them. A police officer attempted to take his flag away from him by reaching for the pole. The pole was made of fiberglass. So, when they wrestled for the pole, it broke and injured the police officer’s hand. Todd got sentenced to five years in prison.

From Associated Press:

“This is not a patriot. This is not conduct becoming of a Marine,” the judge told Todd, 34.

Prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of 12 years and seven months for Todd, who traveled from his Missouri home to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6.

“As the country approaches anther contentious election year, one that will see a rematch of the 2020 Presidential election that was at issue for the rioters on January 6, every January 6 sentencing sends a message about the importance of democratic values and the rule of law,” prosecutors wrote.

After entering the Capitol, Todd repeatedly pushed against officers inside the Rotunda, ignored commands to leave and screamed profanities at police.

Todd was carrying a fiberglass pole attached to a flag. When a Metropolitan Police Department officer tried to grab it from him, Todd and the officer wrestled for control of the pole until it splintered and cut the officer’s hand.

The officer, Noah Rathbun, needed seven stitches and missed nine days of work. Todd argued that the officer’s injuries were self-inflicted.

Additional Reading:

Kunzelman, M. (2024, June 1). Man who injured police officer during Capitol riot is sentenced to 5 years in prison. Associated Press. Link.

Category: 2020 Election, Donald Trump, Joe BIden, Veterans in the news

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2banana

And BLM not only walks, but get nice settlements for “excessive police force.”

Commissar

Nice whataboutism.

And BLM doesn’t walk. BLM protestors got arrested and charged frequently.

This guy is a scumbag that tried to overthrow an election because he didn’t like the results. Stop making excuses for him.

SFC D

If BLM types are arrested and charged…and I emphasize the word “if”… they’re not put on public display as a Democrat political ad. I’m also willing to bet they didn’t spend months or years incarcerated awaiting indictment. Once again, you’re missing the point. It’s not “whataboutism”. That’s another of your buzzwords. It’s a damaged, politically biased system of justice that we have had enough of. Now go have yourself a lovely Sunday. Bless your fraudulent little heart.

rgr769

Two New Yawk lawers firebombed a police car in New Yawk Shitty in the St. Floyd riots. Bragg made a deal to give them minimal public service and no felony or jail.

LC

Got a source for that? Because these articles says they both got disbarred, and jail time, even if not enough:

Rahman: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/nyc-lawyer-gets-15-months-for-firebombing-nypd-vehicle/3964499/

Mattis: https://www.reuters.com/legal/judge-sentences-second-new-york-lawyer-molotov-cocktail-case-2023-01-27/

Making shit up is fun, but it doesn’t make it correct.

timactual

“BLM protestors got arrested and charged frequently.”

Lots of people get charged for lots of things. Irrelevant. Do they get convicted? What kind of sentence do they get?

USMC Steve

Suck it up buttercup. Your socialist dementia is showing again.

rgr1480

I always interpret BLM as Bureau of Land Management when I first read it … I guess being at Ft. Irwin for three years had a strong impact on me.

ANCRN

I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it. When the first thing got smashed or broken, when the first LEO got pushed, yelled/ cursed at, when the first barrier got crossed, it was time to pop smoke and break contact. Anyone who stayed after trouble started was looking for trouble. No sympathy here.

Odie

I sometimes wonder how much of this could have been avoided had the request for extra security not been denied.

5JC

In fairness the organizers did lie about what they were going to do.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/organizers-jan-6-rally-withheld-information-changed-security/story?id=105747804

pookysgirl, WC wife

I still remember the man (my guess is former sergeant in the military or police) yelling at Capitol police… to call for backup NOW, things were getting out if control. The police just stood there, of course, and he stormed off.

Fyrfighter

Don’t forge the videos of the PoPo intentionally inciting the crowd by firing tear gas and less lethal directly into the back of the mostly peaceful crowd, driving them forward into the police lines.. it was ALL orchestrated….

ANCRN

Oh, a lot could have been avoided if people hadn’t been stupid/incompetent.

KoB

Not condoning what this dumbass did (less than honorable discharge?) but one has to wonder if he was egged on by some fed boi during this “insurrection”. I do agree with ANCRN.

Ashli Babbit was unavailable for comment.

Commissar

He was egged on by feds.

He was egged on by the president in the weeks before and right up to the moment this started.

The president is the Fed in Chief.

SFC D

Right on the first statement. Wrong on the second. I award you .5 thumbs down.

rgr769

Liar! There is no evidence Trump urged anyone to attack police. But we do know there were dozens of fed bois in the crowd as agent provocateurs, along with some of your Antifa ilk.

Odie

And what happened to the 2 pipe bombs that the bomb sniffing dogs walked right past.

Either they weren’t bombs, bomb sniffing dogs, or it was a photo released for optics to sell a narrative. One would think our vaunted government has some crack investigators on the payroll somewhere.

Odie

There’s also this, speaking of investigating “schtuff”.

comment image

Marine0331

So Commie, I guess you also think President Trump got a fair trial recently? Sure you do.

Green Thumb

Moron.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

If the protest was against President Trump and the po was killed, no charges against the flag bearer.

Commissar

False. Fairytale bullshit.

Protestors are charged all the time.

Fyrfighter

then the charges are dropped, and the rioters get a settlement from the city… Try again

Deckie

Charged and then sentenced? Show me a BLM or Antifa queef who got more than a slap on the wrist for anything they did? Didn’t our retard VP start a fund to bail them out when they pulled their stupid stunts?

You should have the answers, since you were one of them causing problems in the streets.

5JC

I did that above. Five years in the federal pokey isn’t a slap on the wrist.

SFC D

When will you be indicted and charged as a participant? Or are antifa medics exempt?

Odie

And you were doing so well yesterday. Did you not get enough thumbs down or will your med prescription not be ready until Monday.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Great shtick act today my Conservative friend Commissar..

USMC Steve

Bullshit, and in any event getting arrested means nothing. Not what we are talking about. We are talking about people going to JAIL for the crimes they commit, about consequences for their actions.

26Limabeans

“Todd was carrying a fiberglass pole attached to a flag”

That’s like saying I’m wearing pants attached to a belt.

Fyrfighter

Yeah, a real genius wrote that..

SFC D

They got paid by the word. Using the word “flagpole” would be a pay cut.

Army-Air Force Guy

“Fiberglass pole” sounds more like a “weapon” than flagpole, so they went with that.

Odie

It also sounds like a fishing pole. Deep water or ultra light is debatable.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

“This is not a patriot. This is not conduct becoming of a Marine”, the judge told Todd.
ROFLOL
The judge apparently doesn’t know any Marines. That is EXACTLY the conduct of a Marine!
Wow. If everyone behaved the way the judge expects, we’d still be a British colony.

Hey judge! I scoff in your general direction. Now go away or I shall taunt you again. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

(yeah, it’s not an exact quote. so sue me)

Army, not Marine, still…. If I’m holding a flag and someone – I don’t give a damn who – tries to take that flag away from me, you better believe I’m taking a death-grip on that flagpole. If it snaps in the process, I’m stabbing the aggressor with the pointy end before I allow him to take possession of the banner.

Whoever Noah Rathbun is, he deserved a hell of a lot more than seven stitches.

Odie

Rathbun needed 7 stitches and missed 9 days of work. We’re they 5 days work comp and 2 weekends, or 9 work days and 1 weekend for a total of 11 days? Did he go back to full duty, or did he milk the system for light duty.

Mason has written about people made of sterner stuff, who self checked out of the hospital, and went back and joined their buddies. Compared to some of those guys, 7 stitches is comparable to a splinter.

MIRanger

Not defending anyone, but the 9 days off work were probably non-sequential and due to having to go and sit at the VA emergency room, wait for an appointment, and return for the actual appointment, then the follow up.
Not to mention his appointment with the mental health folks. Or having to track down Pelosi at her new office so he could get his incentive check for extra spicy injuries!

Tallywhagger

I’d have let him go were it not for the injuries from the fiberglass staff. Whether he was prior service, or not, does not seem relevant.

It was a rigged election and Obama owns it.

Five years is WAY too harsh. The thieving villain in the story is the PoPo needing so many “stitches” and time off from “work”.

Hate_me

Rathbun injured himself. There is no crime, here.

Just An Old Dog

Dumb fuck. That being said, Jan 6 protesters/rioters are getting hammered a lot harder than others.

USMC Steve

Wonder how that will go on appeal?