WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nicholas Waldon Smotherman, 41, of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, has been arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers and other charges related to his actions during the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions, along with those of others, disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify the 2020 presidential election results.
Smotherman is charged with felony offenses, including obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers. Additionally, he faces several misdemeanor charges, such as entering and remaining in restricted grounds or buildings, disorderly conduct, and engaging in physical violence on Capitol grounds.
The FBI arrested Smotherman today in Hermitage, Tennessee. He will make his initial court appearance in the Middle District of Tennessee.
According to court documents, Smotherman was identified among a crowd of rioters on the Upper West Plaza of the U.S. Capitol grounds on January 6, 2021. At approximately 2:28 p.m., a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer’s body-worn camera recorded Smotherman near a police line. Despite commands to move back, the rioters pulled bike rack barricades to the ground, and Smotherman allegedly approached and pushed an MPD officer. When the officer attempted to push him back, Smotherman resisted and tried to seize the officer’s baton.
During the altercation, Smotherman shouted, “Hit me with it again,” and other expletives, but retreated after being pepper-sprayed. Subsequently, the rioters overran the police line, and officers retreated to the Lower West Terrace, where some of the most violent confrontations occurred. Smotherman was later identified in and around this area.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.