A retired NYPD officer, seen waving a tambourine and yelling “I’m a fucking animal,” during the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill in 2021, has been found guilty of felony and misdemeanor charges for its role in the armed breach.
Jurors in federal court in Washington DC found Sara Carpenter, 53, of Richmond Hill, Queens, guilty Thursday of civil disorder, obstruction of official proceeding, both felonies and five misdemeanors after joining a violent mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the US government headquarters.
Prosecutors had said Carpenter was caught on CCTV in the Capitol Rotunda and elsewhere in the building, where she pushed officers guarding a hallway into the Senate chamber.
Carpenter also slapped the arms of law enforcement officers who were trying to stop her from further intruding on the Capitol, authorities said.
Despite being told to leave and enduring the effects of chemical irritants, the Queens resident remained on Capitol Hill for 34 minutes.
As he left, Carpenter urged lawmakers to drop their effort to certify election winner Joe Biden.
“The breach was made,” Carpenter said. You need to calm down now. Congress has to get out. They need to certify Trump as president. This is our house.”
He then raised and waved his tambourine over his head.
Carpenter told FBI agents that he went to the Capitol with several other people after hearing then-President Donald Trump instruct them to “march on the Capitol,” according to a court filing.
An anonymous informant dropped a dime on Carpenter to the FBI, authorities said. Carpenter called a relative and admitted to being at the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection. He claimed he was tear gassed and returned to New York City that night.
Carpenter spoke willingly with the federal agents who interviewed her and gave them this video she took from inside the building, prosecutors said.
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The ex-cop was on a reality show in 2011 promoting her invention, a “soft retractable leash with a pocket for trash bags,” according to labark.com.
US District Court Judge James E. Boasberg scheduled sentencing for July 14, 2023.
Carpenter retired from the NYPD in 2004 after about 10 years of service. During the 1990s, he worked as a spokesman for the NYPD.
Carpenter was one of several current and former members of law enforcement charged with involvement in the attack.
Another retired NYPD officer, Thomas Webster, he was sentenced to 10 yearss in prison in September for assaulting a Metropolitan Police Department officer while storming the Capitol.
Webster, who worked on Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s security team and retired in 2011, was caught on video swinging a flagpole at an officer and sticking his thumb in the officer’s eye while calling him a “communist son of a bitch.”
The riot left five people dead, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. Two other police officers who defended the Capitol that day committed suicide in the months after the violence, which injured nearly 140 other police officers.