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A man who authorities identified as David Nicholas Dempsey attacks U.S. Capitol Police with what appears to be pepper spray. | Photo courtesy of the U.S. Attorney's Office
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For attacking police during the 2021 U.S. Capitol breach, a Southern California resident Friday received a 20-year prison sentence, the second-longest incarceration in the hundreds of rioter prosecutions that have occurred to date.
David Nicholas Dempsey, 37, of Van Nuys at the time of his arrest and currently residing in Santa Ana, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth to 240 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release and was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution, federal prosecutors announced.
Court documents show Dempsey in photos extracted from video footage recorded on the Capitol’s lower west terrace on Jan. 6, 2021. He is shown using a crutch and poles made of metal and wood to strike or launch at a line of law enforcement officers blocking the tunnel in front of the west terrace’s entrance. Dempsey also appears to shoot a stream of pepper spray at police.
Dempsey traveled to the District of Columbia with other Californians and attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Capitol’s Ellipse on Jan. 6, according to court documents.
“Dempsey was later interviewed standing near a wooden structure representing a hanging gallows, which was fitted with a noose and sign stating, ‘This is Art,'” prosecutors said in a statement. “Dempsey wore a black helmet, vest, sunglasses, and an American flag gaiter covering his neck, mouth, and nose.”
During an expletive-filled interview, Dempsey called for the lynching of House Democrats Jerry Nadler and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then-FBI Director James Comey and James Clapper, then the director of national intelligence, prosecutors said.
Toward the end of the nearly two-hour violent confrontation with police, “Dempsey retreated from the crowd to rinse pepper spray from his eyes and face,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. “He then returned to the front line and swung a flagpole at the line of officers, striking an officer’s riot shield. Finally, at 5:03 p.m., Dempsey threw two objects at officers in the Tunnel.”
The FBI arrested Dempsey in California on Aug. 26, 2021.
In January, Dempsey pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting police with a dangerous weapon.
Since the Capitol breach by supporters of then-President Donald Trump who lost his 2020 reelection bid to Joe Biden, more than 1,488 people have been charged. Defendants are from nearly every state, and nearly 550 were charged with assaulting or impeding police, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The investigation is ongoing.
