Brownsburg man pleads guilty to assaulting police during Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot
Nov 01, 2024
A mugshot of Troy Koen was not provided as of this article's publication. The mugshot will be added once it is released.
BROWNSBURG, Ind. -- A Brownsburg man has pled guilty to assaulting police officers during his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. capitol.
Troy Koen, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Koen's sentencing is set to take place on Feb. 26, 2025, before U.S. District Chief Judge James Boasberg.
Brownsburg man arrested for breaching U.S. Capitol
Koen was initially arrested by the FBI on felony charges in Indianapolis on Nov. 9, 2023.
Federal court documents detail Koen's participation in the breach of the capital when he reportedly joined a group who "attempted to violently push their way past law enforcement officers on the West Front of the Capitol grounds."
Koen and the rioters were met by a line consisting of United States Capitol police officers and Metropolitan Police Department officers with bike rack barricades behind them as they continued venturing toward the West Front.
This reportedly caused Koen and the rest of the group to become "increasingly agitated" and this anger was redirected at the police as the crowd attempted to pull the bike rack barriers away, court documents said. This effort involved several members of the angry crowd using different weapons, including flag poles, against the officers as they tried to repel the attack.
Federal investigators said Koen eventually made his way to the front of the crowd where he found himself on the northwest side of the West Plaza. Koen proceeded to reportedly grab ahold of a bike rack before entering into a tussle with an officer who was fighting to regain control of the barricade.
The rioters eventually found a way to remove the bike rack and continued moving toward the capitol building. The struggle continued as police continued deploying chemical irritants and striking protestors with batons before they were eventually overrun.
Koen and the rioters managed to gain control of a second barricade as they continued moving through the established police line. The crowd managed to emerge from that as well, forcing officers to retreat to the Lower West Terrace and the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, where some of the more violent altercations occurred.
After the officers retreated, Koen and others worked their way up to the Lower West Terrace where Koen approached the tunnel around 2:41 p.m. while waving a large white pole displaying a "TRUMP 2020" flag and a Confederate flag.
Koen made his way through the crowd and to the front of the rioters where he ran into closed double glass doors by the entrance to the Capitol building. One rioter used an unknown object to bash the door while Koen attempted to break the glass doors with his flagpole.
Documents state that Koen then disassembled the flagpole into two separate pieces as rioters continued to push up against the line of officers inside the Capitol building.
Koen remained at the front of the group as he reportedly struck officers with two flagpoles as officers continued their efforts to hold their line.
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Investigators said Koen exited the Tunnel around 2:47 p.m. without the flagpoles.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. It was also investigated by the FBI’s Indianapolis and Washington Field Offices.
Since the events of Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,3532 individuals from nearly all 50 states have been charged for their roles in the breaching of the U.S. Capitol. Of that total, more than 571 individuals have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.