Former Detroit Lions linebacker Leander Antwione Williams was arrested in Georgia on Thursday and is accused of assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal prosecutors said.
Williams, who went by Antwione Williams in the NFL, played for the Lions during the 2016 season.
He was arrested in Savannah and is charged with felonies of assaulting, resisting or obstructing certain officers, and obstructing law enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
He is also charged with three felonies related to entering and remaining in restricted Capitol buildings and grounds, disorderly conduct and acts of physical violence.
Williams, 31, is accused of joining others in the pro-Trump mob when it attacked police to enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after months of lies about an election that Trump lost.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Williams “confronted and overpowered” Capitol Police officers at a perimeter line, tried to grab a bike rack from an officer trying to clear a plaza, swatted riot control spray from another officer and “slammed an officer into the street.” . head with a strong arm movement.”
An attorney representing Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment after business hours Thursday evening.
Williams was known as “AFO-419” – the abbreviation is for “Assault on Federal Officer” – in photos distributed by the FBI to identify people in the Mafia.
In December 2022, someone sent a tip to authorities that it could be Williams, citing an Instagram account, an FBI agent wrote in a statement of facts filed in the criminal case.
The FBI interviewed Williams at his home in 2023 and noticed a red key fob similar to the one in the Jan. 6 video, the FBI agent wrote.
In August, the FBI reviewed Williams’ credit card statements that showed payments made at a parking lot near a Washington Metro station, about a 10-minute drive from the Capitol area, made on Jan. 6, 2021, the statement of facts said . .
The mob that attacked police and breached and looted the Capitol, causing about $1.5 million in damage, was in Washington for a rally held by Donald Trump, who was president at the time, on the same day Congress formally certified the electoral votes was counting. Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
Trump won re-election to the White House for a second, but not consecutive, term in November.
According to the Justice Department, more than 1,561 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, and of those, more than 590 have been charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
