On Monday, a former New York police officer became the first person convicted of assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Thomas Webster was the first Jan. 6 defendant to claim he had been acting in self-defense. Webster worked for the New York Police Department for roughly two decades, and he’s among several former law enforcement officials charged in connection with last year’s attack.
Call it what you want — muscle memory or sheer gall — but Webster’s defense argument had a familiar feel to it. Like a crooked officer, Webster claimed he’d been provoked by Washington, D.C., police Officer Noah Rathbun, whose body camera video showed Webster repeatedly swinging a flagpole at him.
Perhaps someone should have reminded Webster he’s not a police officer anymore and such excuses for extrajudicial beatings don’t carry the same weight they might have in years past, especially when used to justify beating police officers.








