Washington DC: Kenneth Bonawitz from Pompano Beach was sentenced to five years in jail on Wednesday, according to court records.
Kenneth Bonawitz, a member of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group’s Miami Chapter, assaulted at least six police officers while storming the Capitol with a mob of Donald Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
According to federal authorities, he choked one of the cops and seriously harmed another. The injured officer had to resign from his job due to the injuries he sustained after the assault.
Court records show that U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb gave Bonawitz a sentence of five years in jail followed by three years of supervised release.
Bonawitz was arrested in January and was given a prison term recommendation of five years and eleven months. He agreed to plead guilty to three felonies in August: one count of public disorder and two counts of assaulting cops.
On January 6, Bonawitz boarded a chartered overnight bus to Washington, D.C., through which Trump supporters were able to attend his “Stop the Steal” rally in close proximity to the White House.
As soon as the crowd breached a police line on the north side of the Upper West Plaza, Bonawitz was among the initial rioters to access the area. Ahead of the inauguration of President Joe Biden, he scaled a stage and charged two Capitol police officers. Sergeant Federico Ruiz, one of them, sustained severe injuries to his shoulder, back, knees, and neck.
Ruiz, who retired last month, stated that the injuries Bonawitz caused terminated his career in law enforcement prematurely.
Seven seconds after the police seized his weapon and released him, Bonawitz proceeded to assault four additional officers. He choked one of the officers by placing her in a headlock and then lifting her off the ground.
The siege resulted in the injuries of over one hundred police officers. In connection with the riots in the Capitol, more than 1,200 defendants have faced federal charges. Trials have concluded with the convictions or guilty pleas of approximately 900 individuals. A total of 750 individuals have been convicted, of which almost 500 have been sent to prison.
Dozens of leaders, members, and friends of the Proud Boys were arrested on January 6 on charges. A jury found Enrique Tarrio, the former national head of the Proud Boys, and three of his lieutenants guilty of seditious conspiracy for their failed plan to stop the peaceful handover of power from Trump to Biden after the 2020 election.
Others in the Proud Boys aren’t saying that Bonawitz planned what he did on January 6. However, he “fully embraced and embodied their anti-government, extremist ideology when he assaulted six law enforcement officers who stood between a mob and the democratic process,” the prosecutor said.
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