Doctor arrested for allegedly punching police officer during Jan 6 riot

Jacquelyn Starer, 68, accused of taking knife-proof shirt and bear spray into US Capitol

A Massachusetts doctor was arrested for allegedly punching a police officer on video during the pro-Trump attack on the US Capitol.

Jacquelyn Starer, 68, was captured on body camera footage striking a police officer on January 6 2021, a criminal complaint alleges.

Ms Starer “is a practising physician licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts,” according to the complaint filed by an FBI special agent.

Prosecutors say that she took part in Donald Trump’s “Stop The Steal” rally and was inside the Capitol wearing red clothing, including a Trump hat.

Officials stated that video footage shows the suspect striking a Metropolitan Police Department officer at around 3pm on January 6 on the west side of the Capitol Rotunda.

The female officer later stated that “a blonde woman wearing a red jacket and hat punched her in the left side of her head,” the complaint states.

Court papers state that an online tipster notified the FBI five days after the insurrection that the suspect had told them she intended on attending the rally and had “prepared” for it by taking a “mesh knife-proof shirt and bottles of pepper spray.”

And the FBI says that in May 2022 a coworker of the doctor confirmed her identity in photographs.

Ms Starer is facing charges of forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, and impeding federal officers; civil disorder and engaging in physical violence in a Capitol Building, according to an arrest warrant.

Ms Starer appeared in federal court on Tuesday and was later released by a judge.

Nearly 900 people have been arrested in all 50 US states for crimes related to the insurrection, with more than 270 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers.