Isaac Thomas, Assault with a Metal Flagpole, Michigan 2021

Isaac Thomas, 20, of Flint, Michigan, swung a metal flagpole at fully uniformed Capitol Police during the January 6, 2021 insurrection, attempting to break through law enforcement lines on the Capitol’s west front. The violent assault, captured on video by accomplice Christina Legros, 22, of Beaverton, Michigan, marked one of the most brazen attacks on officers during the mob’s push toward the Senate Chamber.

Thomas was arrested January 26, 2022, and charged with multiple felonies: assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a deadly weapon, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, corruptly obstructing an official proceeding, entering restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon, and engaging in physical violence while armed. He also faces misdemeanor counts for violent and disorderly conduct inside the Capitol Building.

Legros was arrested the following day, facing misdemeanor charges for entering restricted grounds, engaging in disruptive conduct, disorderly behavior in the Capitol, and parading or demonstrating inside the building. She filmed Thomas’s attack on police, including the moment he struck an officer with the flagpole in a bid to help the mob advance up the steps to the upper west terrace—eight minutes after his initial assault.

Both defendants breached the Capitol through the Senate Wing Door, marched across the House side, and entered the Crypt before ascending to the second floor. There, Thomas entered the Speaker of the House’s office suite and recorded a defiant message on his phone: “. . . The United States of America thinks we were playing . . . Do not let them take our country. Mike Pence failed us today. Ya’ll better take your country back. Take your freedom back for the sake of your families and your children!”

Later, near the Old Senate Chamber, Thomas again attacked officers trying to hold the line. In the chaos, he and Legros were separated and fled the building independently. The FBI’s Detroit Field Office – Flint Resident Agency and Washington Field Office led the investigation, with critical support from the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

The Justice Department continues to pursue hundreds of January 6 cases. To date, over 950 individuals from nearly every state have been arrested, including more than 284 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. Thomas and Legros now face federal prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the DOJ’s National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, with assistance from the Eastern District of Michigan.