Inset: Justin Lee. Background: A smoke bomb Lee threw at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (U.S. Justice Department).
A Maryland police officer was convicted of tossing a smoke bomb at police during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden rejected 26-year-old Justin Lee's claim that he was "just trying to make a statement" about police brutality after seeing officers use force against other rioters that day, finding him guilty of interfering with police during a civil disorder, assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, disorderly conduct and trespassing.
"No police officer should have to endure these attacks and provocations," said McFadden, The Associated Press reported.
Lee was part of the large crowd of former President Donald Trump supporters at the Capitol that day, obstructing the certification of the Electoral College vote. He was seen in surveillance video wearing a gaiter-style Maryland flag face covering and a military-style medical bag with two side pouches.
Court documents said Lee ignited and threw a smoke bomb into the tunnel entrance on the Capitol's Lower West Terrace, filling the area with smoke, where a mob of rioters attacked a group of outnumbered police officers. The device struck a Metropolitan Police Officer's shield, court documents said.
Lee was hired as a Montgomery County Police Officer after participating in the insurrection, the Montgomery County Department of Police said in a news release announcing his suspension without pay due to his involvement in that day's events.
His application for the job was submitted in July 2021, about six months after the events of Jan. 6. He was hired into the department on Jan. 31, 2022, the agency said. The police agency learned he was the subject of an FBI investigation in July 2023. Before his suspension, Lee had been on administrative leave for his involvement in the shooting death of a man armed with a knife on July 22, 2023, and Lee had not been performing the duties of a police officer since that incident, police said.
"The Montgomery County Police Department conducts a thorough background investigation as part of its standard hiring process to ensure the suitability of candidates for employment," the news release said. "Lee's involvement in the January 6 insurrection was not discovered during this process, as he was not identified by the Justice Department in connection with the event."
The agency said that in light of Lee's arrest, he was suspended without pay, and the department "is taking steps to terminate his employment."
He is set to be sentenced in the Jan. 6 case on Nov. 22.
In the 43 months since the riots, more than 1,488 people have been charged in connection with the insurrection, officials said.
