Man who wildly hit police with pole on Jan. 6 sentenced
Left: Joshua Atwood is shown holding a metal pipe moments before throwing it into a tunnel of waiting officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Right: Atwood stands in front of a shattered window at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
A Pennsylvania man who wildly hit and stabbed at officers guarding the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots with metal and wooden poles and an officer’s helmet and riot shield is going to prison.
Joshua Lee Atwood, 31, was sentenced to 48 months — or four years — in prison by U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss, a Barack Obama appointee, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release. Atwood previously pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting officers using a dangerous weapon.
In their sentencing memo requesting 63 months imprisonment, the top of the range, prosecutors said Atwood’s felonious conduct that day was part of a massive riot that almost succeeded in preventing the Electoral College certification of Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election from being carried out, frustrating the peaceful transition of Presidential power, and throwing the United States into a Constitutional crisis.
They said he helped lead the mob’s last efforts to fight at the Tunnel, the site of the most vicious battle at the Capitol that day.
“As he fought on the mob’s front line, Atwood relentlessly attacked the police with any object within his reach that could be used as a weapon — from a piece of fabric to a metal baseball bat,” prosecutors wrote. “As he beat the officers in the police line, Atwood called them ‘pieces of s—‘ and taunted that they were ‘betraying [their] country.””
“His efforts were motivated by an animus towards the proceedings that were supposed to be happening inside the Capitol building: it is no coincidence that the officers fending off Atwood’s and others’ attacks were defending the very building where an important democratic process was to be completed,” prosecutors added. “That Atwood’s acts did not directly cause any grave injury is nothing short of a miracle and a testament to the officers’ training and resilience.”
Atwood was there at the peak time of the violence as well — between 4:51 p.m. and again at 5:03 p.m. He made contact with one officer using a bottle and then quickly threw a “long silver pole” into the tunnel, where it sailed over the top of a few officers’ heads before striking one in the back. He threw a “small square object” into the tunnel next and then, moments later, “used a long wooden pole to strike multiple officers using a stabbing motion with a significant amount of force,” the FBI said.
Officials said Atwood hit two Metropolitan Police Department officers before taking a step back and jamming the pole at another officer before bringing down atop their helmet and across their face plate.
“Atwood then pulled the pole back and threw it in the direction of two MPD officers, hitting their shields and ricocheting off the south wall,” court documents said.
The pole also hit an assisting Virginia State police trooper’s head and neck.
Atwood screamed at police on Jan. 6, telling them: “F— you guys, you are all pieces of s—,” and “Everyone of you should be ashamed of yourself. Everyone of you mother f—ers are pieces of s—. Betraying your country like this, why would you betray your country? Do you love your country or do you want civil … communist f—-.”
He also entered the Capitol building after going through a broken window near the tunnel.
A month after Jan. 6, he was arrested for disorderly conduct after an argument with officers conducting a traffic crash investigation led to a fight with a tow-truck driver in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
The investigating officer noticed a strong smell of marijuana emanating from Atwood’s vehicle, and Atwood claimed he did not know what marijuana smelled like, the document said.
Atwood berated law enforcement as they tried to relocate the involved vehicles and claimed officers were just “following orders like the Jews did when they entered concentration camps,” officials said. The comment prompted an argument between Atwood and a tow truck operator, who was Jewish. An officer broke up the conflict. Police ultimately got a search warrant for Atwood’s vehicle and found marijuana and a glass pipe. Atwood wound up pleading guilty to disorderly conduct and was fined.
Court documents say Atwood, who lives in Burgettstown with his fiancée and three young children, was first identified in the Jan. 6 case after a tipster informed police they had recognized Atwood from a 2011 mug shot. A prominent scar on the left side of his forehead had given him away. Atwood was arrested in 2023 for robbery and malicious assault in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. Upon the arrest, a patrolman made the connection after reviewing footage of Atwood from Jan. 6 and alerted the FBI.
Brandi Buchman contributed to this report.
