Florida man arrested for allegedly throwing 'long white pole' at officers at Capitol on Jan. 6

Background: Screenshots from body camera footage on Jan. 6, 2021, at U.S. Capitol shows Garth Nathaniel Walton, circled in red, holding a long white pole before allegedly throwing it at police officers. Inset: Images show Walton at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Photos courtesy U.S. Justice Department.

Floridian Garth Nathaniel Walton, 32, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly assaulting police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by throwing a “long white pole” at officers and attempting to knock them over with bike rack barriers.

Walton, who lives in Yulee, Florida , made his first court appearance in his home state on July 15, according to a statement from federal prosecutors at the Justice Department. Court records show that with an unsecured appearance bond of $5,000 bond, he was permitted to be released on the condition that he not break the law and promise to appear in court in Washington, D.C., before a district judge on August 8.

A criminal complaint charges him with seven offenses including assault of certain officers, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings and more.

Agents say body camera footage from Metropolitan Police Department officers who responded to the mob attack showed Walton moving from the Lower West Plaza to a line of metal barricades where he began to use the barriers to push back officers repeatedly and with force.

Prosecutors say Walton retreated once down the West Plaza stairs before again charging police and ramming a metal barricade into them.

Screenshots in background and inset from body camera footage on Jan. 6, 2021, at U.S. Capitol shows Garth Nathaniel Walton, circled in red, allegedly using bike rack barrier to push into police. Courtesy U.S. Justice Department.

That’s when “Walton then picked up a white pole and threw it at officers,” court records state.

An image from body camera footage notes that Walton was seen “holding a long white pole before throwing it at officers,” the statement of facts also says.

Prosecutors noted that police officers from the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office in Florida had responded to an “emergency situation” on July 1, 2023, involving Walton, though they did not describe what sort of emergency. They said it was during that incident that a deputy sheriff interacted with Walton and identified him by his driver’s license.

The FBI did not interview the deputy sheriff until April and that was when he was shown open source footage of Walton at the Capitol on Jan. 6. The deputy told the FBI he believed the man in the pictures wearing a star-spangled baseball cap and dark jacket was Walton but he was “not one hundred percent sure.”

Investigators were able to confirm it was Walton, they said, when they also learned Walton rented a room at the Hamilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., from Jan. 5, 2021, to Jan. 7, 2021.

The hotel was one of a few frenzied hot spots for supporters of former President Donald Trump during the certification of the 2020 election and in the wake of the Capitol attack, its owner told The Washington Post he had undergone some of the worst challenges of his professional career in 25 years while handling guests there — including guests who the hotel owner said challenged police officers on the street in a way that was “utterly deplorable.” His staff, he said, was on high alert for anything that may be a gun case.

As for Walton, there no is evidence to suggest he was armed with anything other than the barricades and “long white pole” used against officers protecting lawmakers and the Capitol as the electoral certification was disrupted.

An attorney for Walton did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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