Evergreen Reporter

A Tennessee man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and other charges related to his conduct during the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol. His alleged actions, along with those of others, disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election.

Nicholas Waldon Smotherman, 41, of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with felony offenses including obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers.

In addition to these felonies, Smotherman faces several misdemeanor charges: entering and remaining in restricted grounds or buildings; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds or buildings; engaging in physical violence in restricted grounds or buildings; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; and acts of physical violence in Capitol grounds or buildings.

The FBI arrested Smotherman today in Hermitage, Tennessee. He will make his initial appearance in the Middle District of Tennessee.

According to court documents, it is alleged that Smotherman was identified among a crowd of rioters on January 6, 2021, amassed on the Upper West Plaza of the U.S. Capitol grounds. At approximately 2:28 p.m., a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer's body-worn camera captured Smotherman standing near bike racks and a police line on the southwest side of the Upper West Plaza.

Here, rioters had begun pulling on bike racks. Smotherman was seen on body-worn camera next to this group, appearing to advance toward an MPD officer. Police then commanded the rioters to move back. Instead, they pulled down bike rack barricades while Smotherman moved forward toward the police line. It is alleged that he approached an MPD officer and pushed him with both hands.

The officer attempted to push Smotherman back using a baton but failed as Smotherman stood upright and yelled "Hit me with it again." When another attempt was made by the officer to push him back, Smotherman allegedly grabbed the baton and tried to pull it away while shouting profanities at officers. The officer managed to prevent him from taking the baton while another officer deployed pepper spray causing Smotherman to retreat.

Soon after this incident, rioters overran the police line on the Upper West Plaza forcing officers to retreat to Lower West Terrace. A large crowd then gathered around what is referred to as "the Tunnel," which saw some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement on January 6th. Smotherman was later identified around this area.

This case is being prosecuted by both U.S Attorney's Office for District Columbia and Department Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section with valuable assistance provided by U.S Attorney's Office for Middle District Tennessee.

The investigation is being conducted by FBI's Memphis Washington Field Offices with support from U.S Capitol Police Metropolitan Police Department where Nicholas Waldon identified Assault Federal Officer #364

In past forty-two months since Jan sixth twenty-twenty-one more than fourteen hundred seventy individuals have been charged nearly all fifty states crimes related breach US Capitol including more than five hundred thirty individuals charged assaulting impeding law enforcement felony Investigation remains ongoing

Anyone having tips can call one-eight-hundred-call-fbi eight-hundred-two-two-five-five-three-two-four visit tips dot fbi dot gov

            A complaint is merely an allegation all defendants presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt court law