Source: Office of United States Attorneys
WASHINGTON — A Texas man was arrested yesterday for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers and other charges related to his alleged conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His alleged actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.
Daniel Dustin Deneui, 51, of Colleyville, Texas, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia on with assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder); entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; destruction of property; and an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.
The FBI arrested Deneui on December 18 in Fort Worth. He made his initial court appearance in the Northern District of Texas.
According to publicly available photos and videos, on January 6, 2021, Deneui attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse in Washington D.C. He then marched to the U.S. Capitol. Around 3:44 p.m., Deneui appears in a third-party TikTok video in which removes a collapsible baton from his pocket and extends it while he stands in front of a line of Metropolitan Police. He then appears to yell something to the crowd and nods his head to indicate others should follow him.
Body-worn camera footage shows Deneui walking along the police line with the baton.
An officer noticed Deneui carrying a weapon. After determining that the weapon was a baton and presented a danger to the officers and the crowd, Metropolitan Police pulled Deneui behind the police line. An officer took the baton from Deneui. As other officers conducted a pat down, they advised Deneui that the baton was prohibited. Deneui told officers that he was “just trying to protect” himself. He told officers he did not have any other weapons on him, just his phone. Officers then discovered that Deneui was wearing body armor.
Deneui asked police, “I can’t protect myself?” An officer explained that the baton was a weapon. Deneui responded that there “are crazy people out there right now,” and requested the officers return the baton and then argued with officers that they should return the baton because it was going to be “a shitstorm.” Police asked Deneui if he was ready to leave, to which he responded, “No, I don’t want to leave, I’m staying all night.” The officers instructed Deneui to return to the crowd. Deneui told the officers that “there’s a lot of people that are pissed off out there, and they are going to fucking take this place over.”
Deneui then made his way through the crowd and posted himself near the Senate Wing Door. By the time he arrived there, police officers inside the building were attempting to re-secure the broken windows and prevent more rioters from gaining access to the building. Third-party video shows Deneui watching as another rioter stand on the windowsill attempting to kick out the window shutter. Deneui then helps a second rioter on to the sill and the second rioter attempts to break the shutters as well. One of the rioters punches a hole through the shutter.
Another video captures Deneui taking a flagpole from a woman with a fur-collared hood, looking inside the broken shutters, then pushing at the furniture blockading the window. While Deneui pushes against the make-shift barricades, U.S. Capitol police inside the building hold up the furniture. In the video, officers are visible directly behind the furniture.
Deneui then pulls the flagpole out of the window, looks inside the window a second time, and forcibly jabs the flagpole through a hole in the stack of furniture. Deneui appears to intentionally avoid the furniture stack, and instead, aims the flagpole at the officers inside. With his view inside the building unobstructed, Deneui hit one of the officers holding up the furniture inside in the shoulder. After hitting the officer with the flagpole, Deneui then stabs the window and breaks additional pieces off of the window shutters. As a different rioter attempts to break the shutters further with a different flagpole, Deneui takes a piece of wood from the broken shutter and uses it to continue to destroy the shutters.
This case is being investigated by the by the FBI’s Fort Worth and Washington Field Offices.Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.
In the 47 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,572 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 590 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.
A complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
24mj380