(CBS DETROIT) – Former NFL star Antwione Williams, who was drafted by the Lions in 2016, has been charged in connection with his involvement in the… Insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the 31-year-old is charged with assaulting, resisting and obstructing certain officers and obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder.
He is also charged with misdemeanors including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, committing physical assault in a restricted building or grounds , disorderly conduct in any Capitol building or grounds, and acts of physical abuse. violence on the grounds or in the buildings of the Capitol.
Authorities arrested Williams on Thursday in Savannah, Georgia, where he will appear in federal court, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A criminal complaint shows that Williams was allegedly among the first group of people to breach the restricted perimeter and even tried to take a bicycle rake from an officer. The complaint alleges that as police pushed a crowd away from the Capitol, Williams “lunged at an officer and punched the officer’s hand.”
The complaint also alleges that Williams “moved forward and grabbed the barricade, this time with both hands, and pulled it back, away from the police line. [Capitol Police officers] tried to push Williams away, and in response Williams jumped up and forcefully brought his hand and arm down [an officer’s] head.”
Williams was identified in 2023 after FBI agents received a tip and compared screenshots of the individual during the riot to photos on social media and an official photo on the NFL’s website, the complaint said. In August 2024, investigators reviewed credit card records associated with Williams, which showed a purchase had been made in the area.
Williams was a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NFL draft. The Lions waived him prior to the 2017 season, and he was signed to practice for the Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers.
More than 1,500 people from across the country have been charged in connection with the riot.
President-elect Donald Trump has praised those who breached the Capitol building January 6, 2021as “patriots” and called them “hostages” of a Justice Department that was “weaponized” against him. He has said those arrested as a result of their actions during the Capitol riot should be released, and he has pledged to pardon a “large portion” of people. more than 1,000 people convicted or found guilty of crimes arising from the January 6 attack.
