Doctor gets 9 months for hitting officer in head during Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack

Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Massachusetts doctor Jacquelyn Starer got 9 months in prison Thursday for punching a female police officer in the head during the Jan. 6 pro-Trump mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The deadly attack forced an interruption of the peaceful transfer of presidential power in the U.S. 2020 election, spurring members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence to evacuate, fearful for their lives.

Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, told Starer , "You're a very educated person. A person with a lot of life experience. I can't explain why you were trying to get into the bowels of the Capitol like a heat-seeking missile."

Starer apologized to the officer in court.

According to the Department of Justice, Starer's sentence includes 24 months of supervised release and $4,000 in restitution and fines.

In all, she pleaded guilty to eight counts -- two felonies for obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers.

The DOJ said in a statement Starer made her way to the Capitol building and entered via the East Rotunda Doors and went into the rotunda, where police officers had formed a police line to protect the west entrance of the Capitol Rotunda from a crowd of rioters near former Speaker Pelosi's office.

The statement said "Starer moved through the crowd and to the front of the police line. Starer approached the officers, pushed up against another rioter with outstretched arms, and pointed her finger in the direction of the officers. Starer then grabbed the arm of the rioter with outstretched arms and pushed it down. She then turned to face the rioter and was pushed back by a police officer. Starer then struck the officer with her closed fist."

Prosecutors had recommended two years and three months in prison.

Body-cam footage from a D.C. Metropolitan police officer captured Starer hitting an officer in the Capitol rotunda, according to a DOJ statement of facts filed in court.

Starer had worked as a practicing doctor at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital when she was arrested in December 2022. After the arrest, the hospital said Starer was "no longer active" there.

The DOJ said she attended the pro-Trump "Stop The Steal" rally in Washington, D.C., that falsely proclaimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Officers observed her entering the U.S. Capitol with the pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a DOJ court filing.

Starer was captured on video striking a Metropolitan Police Department officer identified only by the initials M.B. in the left side of the officer's head.