National Guard who triggered FBI manhunt admits spraying police officers on January 6

WASHINGTON — A former New Jersey National Guard police sergeant who fled in November after the FBI arrested him in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol pleaded guilty Thursday to assaulting police officers .

Gregory Yetman pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding physical contact with law enforcement officers and intent to commit another felony during a hearing before Chief Judge James E. Boasberg. The parties agreed that Yetman’s sentencing guidelines were between 37 and 46 months in federal prison.

Yetman, a heavy equipment operator who at the time was an enlisted military police officer, admitted that he watched then-President Donald Trump’s speech on January 6 and understood that Trump said they would go to the Capitol.

“Yetman then walked to the west side of the U.S. Capitol building, where he heard people shouting, ‘Stop the steal.’ While there, he heard ‘flash bangs’ and observed tear gas being fired by U.S. Capitol Police officers defending the Capitol,” according to the agreed statement of offense. “He observed protesters who were exposed to gas and oleoresin capsicum (‘OC’) spray and observed other protesters trying to break windows. He also saw a police officer pulled into the crowd but did not attempt to help the officer.”

Yetman then saw officers surrounded by other members of the crowd, grabbed a can of OC spray and “intentionally assaulted the same group of beleaguered officers by spraying them.”

Yetman also admitted that he fled when the FBI showed up to arrest him, dropping a knife and a cell phone. He admitted that authorities located “multiple firearms and significant quantities of ammunition at his residence, a loaded firearm in his vehicle, and additional firearms and weapons in a storage unit.”

Until now, Yetman was one of about 15 Jan. 6 defendants who were held in pretrial custody without having been convicted of any crime.