WASHINGTON – An Ohio man has been arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges, including assaulting law enforcement, related to his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.
Benjamin Michael Shuler, 28, of Grove City, Ohio, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, both felony offenses. In addition to the felonies, Shuler is charged with various misdemeanor offenses, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and engaging in an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds or buildings.
Shuler was arrested today in Lancaster, Ohio, and made his initial appearance in the Southern District of Ohio.
According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, at approximately 4:48 p.m., a police line established on the northwest stairs to the Capitol began to descend the steps to clear the area of protesters, which included a man later identified as Shuler. As police began to clear the area, Shuler resisted the police line and began pushing a Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) officer’s riot shield several times and pressed his body into the shield.
At approximately 4:53 p.m., as the police line attempted to advance down the steps, Shuler continued to resist and pressed his body into an additional unidentified police officer’s riot shield and shoved it back several times. As officers continued to move the police line down the stairs, Shuler resisted police and violently pushed an officer’s riot shield several times with significant force.
At approximately 4:57 p.m., as the police line approached the bottom steps, a police officer’s body-worn camera footage depicts Shuler as he gestured to others to meet him in front of the police line and again resisted police by pushing back and swiping at an unidentified officer’s riot shield.
This 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. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Cincinnati and Washington Field Offices, which identified Shuler as BOLO (Be on the Lookout) #435 on its seeking information photos. Valuable assistance was provided by FBI Chicago, the U.S. Capitol Police, the Montgomery County Police Department, and the Metropolitan Police Department.
In the 32 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,146 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 398 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
