MO man who shouted Jan. 6 police were ‘a little speed bump’ pleads guilty to felonies
A Missouri man accused of struggling with authorities and stealing a police baton during the Capitol riot pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers.
The plea hearing for Cale Douglas Clayton of Drexel was held before Judge Royce C. Lamberth in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Clayton’s sentencing is scheduled for June 15.
Clayton, 42, is among 25 Missouri residents charged in the Capitol riot. Of those, 15 have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced, three have pleaded guilty and await sentencing, one has an upcoming trial and six have not entered pleas or scheduled trials.
Clayton was indicted by a federal grand jury April 22, 2022, on numerous counts: assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; civil disorder; theft of government property; 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; and an act of physical violence within the Capitol grounds or buildings.
Court documents said the FBI received an online tip on Jan. 7, 2021, saying that Clayton was involved in the riot. Agents interviewed him in March 2021 at his home in Drexel, which is south of Kansas City in Cass and Bates counties along the state line.
Clayton told them he had gone to Washington, D.C., to attend the pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6 and walked to the Capitol grounds afterward, the charging document said. He told agents that he was arrested “while attempting to return a police baton to the police.”
Clayton said he was released the same day without charges being filed and that “he did not riot, engage in violence, or commit any acts of vandalism,” according to the document.
The FBI then identified Clayton from the Metropolitan Police Department’s body-worn camera video from Jan. 6. In the video, the document said, Clayton was wearing a red baseball cap, a red Kansas City Chiefs sweatshirt, khaki vest, blue jeans and dark boots and could be heard shouting at officers on the front lines outside the Capitol.
At 2:54 p.m., Clayton was pointing at officers, the document said, shouting, “We are going to win. You don’t have enough for all of us. You might hit me once or twice. You might spray me with pepper spray. I don’t give a f---. There ain’t enough for millions of people here and you know it.”
The video showed Clayton underneath scaffolding outside the Capitol from 3:20 to 3:25 that afternoon, the document said, yelling and pointing at officers. Among the things he shouted, it said: “You guys realize your President told us to be here. Your President! Hey, how does that make you feel? You’re defying your own f------ country!...Are you a Patriot? Or are you a f------ yes man?” And “think about it. (Inaudible) the revolution. You ain’t gonna stop it. It’s already happening…You guys are just gonna be a little speed bump along the way.”
Video from a Montgomery County Police Department body-worn camera showed Clayton about an hour later on the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol, the document said, grabbing a police shield on two occasions and taking a police baton that had been dropped by an officer.
The FBI also found video showing Clayton interfering with an Arlington County Police Department officer who appeared to be isolated from other officers, the document said.
“Specifically, Clayton, while holding the police baton in his left hand, grabs the officer’s shield with his right hand. The ACPD officer was required to strike Clayton’s right hand to free his shield.”
About 4:30 p.m., Capitol surveillance footage showed police trying to recover the baton from Clayton, according to the document.
Montgomery County police then tried to take Clayton into custody, it said, “but Clayton resisted and grabbed the face shield of an MCPD officer’s helmet and pushed the officer backward.” Shortly after that, it said, Clayton was taken into custody, the police baton still in his possession. He was later taken to a police station but released without charges.
About 1,000 people from nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol breach, the Justice Department said in a news release this week. About 518 have pleaded guilty, 133 to felonies and 385 to misdemeanors. Of those, 420 have been sentenced, with about 220 of them receiving jail time.
