A Florida judge has sentenced a “black bloc” Inauguration Day rioter to four months in prison and two years of supervised probation for breaking business windows and throwing bricks, rocks and other projectiles at uniformed law enforcement officers.
Thirty-one-year-old Dane Powell of Tampa, Florida, pled guilty to throwing a “brick, large rock or piece of concrete” at uniformed law enforcement officers during post-inaugural riots in which hundreds of protesters—dressed in black—looted and fought with the police in the streets of Washington, D.C. Powell admitted to “being part of a group of rioters who moved approximately 16 blocks over a period of more than 30 minutes.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff played a 10-minute video compilation of Powell breaking store windows and assaulting the police. Kerkhoff called Powell “a coward” and argued he went to Washington, D.C., during the inauguration with the express purpose of rioting. Kerkhoff described Powell as “among the most violent” of the 234 individuals arrested following the Inauguration Day riots. Powell had been seen the day before the inauguration in Logan Circle carrying gas masks, a hammer, and the same black flag he was identified with on the day of the riots.