Hendricks County, Indiana man pleads guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6 Capitol invasion

November 2, 2024 – WASHINGTON. An Indiana man pleaded guilty Friday to assaulting law enforcement during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. His actions and those of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress called to identify and count electoral votes related to presidential elections of 2020.

Troy Allen Cohen, 54, of Brownsburg, Indiana, pleaded guilty to one count of assault, resisting or obstructing certain officers before Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg. Chief Judge Boasberg will sentence Cohen on February 26, 2025.

According to court documents, on January 6, 2021, Cohen marched on the US Capitol building and joined a group of rioters who tried to violently push past law enforcement officers on the West Front of the Capitol. There, officers from the United States Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department formed a line of bicycle barricades to prevent the rioters from advancing. The crowd of rioters became agitated and aggressive towards the police, approached the bicycle parking lot and tried to drag them away. Demonstrators used various types of weapons against the police to break through the police line.

Eventually, Cohen made his way to the very front of the crowd of rioters on the northwest side of West Plaza, walked up to the police line, grabbed a bicycle rack with both hands, and aggressively pulled the barricade away from the police. A violent struggle ensued between the police and the rioters, with both sides fighting for control of the barrier; however, the rioters managed to remove the bike rack, creating a vulnerable spot in the police line.

After Cohen and others removed the first barricade from the police line, Cohen turned, shouted at the crowd of rioters and pointed at the police. Cohen then approached the police line again, rushed forward and took another police barricade. A second skirmish broke out between the police and the rioters. Police officers used physical force, batons, and chemical agents in an attempt to prevent the rioters from removing the barricade, but Cohen and the rioters eventually overpowered the officers.

As Cohen and others violently seized a second barricade from the police line and passed it back into the crowd of rioters, a policeman was knocked forward and dragged to the ground by another rioter. Eventually the mob successfully overpowered the police line and the police quickly retreated to Lower West Terrace and regrouped in Lower West Terrace, the scene of some of the most brutal attacks on law enforcement that day.

As the officers retreated into the tunnel, coughing, vomiting and showing the visible effects of the West Square riot, the rioters, including Cohen, climbed onto the lower west terrace. Cohen then approached the Tunnel, holding a large white pole with two flags in his hands. One flag read “TRUMP 2020” and the other had a Confederate flag. Cohen entered the tunnel at approximately 2:41 p.m

Flagpole in hand, Cohen made his way through the crowd and came to the front of the band of rioters. There, the rioters encountered closed double glass doors that served as a barrier to entering the Capitol building. When one of the rioters hit the glass door with an unknown object in his hand, Cohen raised the flagpole over his shoulder and began to drive the flagpole into the glass. The glass door shattered as Cohen continued to poke it with his flagpole, allowing the rioters to reach through the broken glass and open the door.

Cohen then split the shaft into two parts.

After the glass was broken and the door opened, the rioters immediately started pushing the police. Officers inside the tunnel shouted, “HOLD THE LINE!” as the onslaught continued. Cohen remained at the front of the group and quickly began using two flagpoles to repeatedly thrust the flagpoles into the officers. As the police held their ground, the rioters continued to attack, using their body weight to push the police line, hitting the police with batons and poles and spraying chemical irritants into the tunnel. While this was happening, Cohen remained at the forefront of the rioting crowd.

Cohen emerged from the tunnel around 2:47 p.m. without flagpoles in hand.

The FBI arrested Cohen on November 9, 2023 in Indianapolis.

The case is being prosecuted by the District of Columbia Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice’s National Security Counterterrorism Division. Valuable assistance was provided by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana.

This case is being investigated by the FBI offices in Indianapolis and Washington. Valuable assistance was provided by the US Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the 45 months since January 6, 2021, more than 1,532 people have been charged in nearly all 50 states with crimes related to trespassing at the U.S. Capitol, including more than 571 people charged with felony assault or obstruction of law enforcement. The investigation is still ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Accusation

See Documents

Status of the case

The complaint was filed on November 2, 2023

Arrested – 09.11.2023

Accompanying documents