Florida man ‘at the front line of rioters’ on Jan. 6 pleads guilty

A Florida man on Monday pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement with a deadly weapon during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Robert Scott Palmer of Largo, Fla., was part of the crowd of rioters on Jan. 6 and threw a wooden plank at U.S. Capitol Police officers as well as at D.C. Metropolitan officers. Just a few minutes after this, Palmer sprayed the contents of a fire extinguisher at the officers and threw the empty fire extinguisher at them.

The DOJ said that Palmer was at “the front line of rioters confronting the officers.”

No injuries were tied to Palmer’s conduct, but the DOJ noted that the size and weight of the objects he threw made them capable of “inflicting serious bodily injury.”

Palmer faces a maximum sentence of a $250,000 fine and 20 years in prison.

NEW: Court unseals criminal case against Robert Palmer of Florida.. accused of spraying police with fire extinguisher, then throwing the extinguisher at officers — during US Capitol Insurrection.

Feds say he wore a “Florida for Trump” hat pic.twitter.com/A61iEAjWB7

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) March 18, 2021

The DOJ said more than 600 individuals from nearly all 50 U.S. states have been arrested in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot thus far. At least 185 of these people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

Palmer’s guilty plea comes just days after fellow Florida resident and former congressional candidate Jeremy Brown was arrested for “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority” and “engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in any restricted building or grounds” with intent to disrupt government business.

According to prosecutors, Brown helped to organize travel for people to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and was allegedly more than 100 feet within the restricted area near the Capitol that had been laid out by law enforcement.