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Inset: Andrew Grigsby. Background: Grigsby, in red square, allegedly disperses bear spray at cops, blue square, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (DOJ).
A 29-year-old Kentucky man was arrested for allegedly deploying bear spray at Capitol police officers on Jan. 6.
Standing on the northwest stairwell of Capitol steps at 1:54 p.m., Andrew Kyle Grigsby was among the first rioters to engage with cops, feds say. He is facing charges of civil disorder, assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon and inflicting bodily injury, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds using a dangerous weapon, and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon.
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He was arraigned on the charges in Washington, D.C., on Friday. According to the FBI’s statement of facts about Grigsby’s alleged conduct, surveillance cameras showed him on the steps with a group of other rioters. As the mob was trying to break through the police line, Grigsby was seen holding a black canister, later determined to be bear spray, in his right hand. Grigsby allegedly raised the canister and dispersed the spray at cops, causing them to temporarily retreat.
“One of those officers described himself being unable to breathe or see without unbearable, tortuous pain,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia reads.
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Prosecutors say Grigsby then went down the stairs where he got ahold of a police riot shield. Witnesses who knew Grigsby identified him from photos in the months following the riot. Agents tried to interview Grigsby at his home in Eubank, some 60 miles south of Lexington. He wasn’t home but a family member confirmed he had been at the riot. The family member also reportedly said that Grigsby had deleted photos from their phone of him at the Capitol.
Agents got Grigsby on the phone and while he admitted being in Washington, D.C., on that day, he said he never entered the Capitol. He also claimed he was not deploying the bear spray at cops, but rather at rioters fighting said cops.
However surveillance footage clearly showed him spraying it at cops, the FBI said.
Grigsby was indicted in November 2023 and again in August but it was under seal until his arrest last week. He remains behind bars, according to the feds.
