An Illinois man who attacked a police officer and a Reuters cameraman during the U.S. Capitol riot has been sentenced to more than four years in prison.

Shane Jason Woods, 45, was the first person charged with assaulting a member of the news media during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Woods, of Auburn, Illinois, took a running start and tackled the Reuters cameraman “like an NFL linebacker hunting a quarterback after an interception,” federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

Woods also attacked and injured a Capitol police officer who was 100 pounds (45 kilograms) lighter than him, according to prosecutors. He blindsided the officer, knocking her off her feet and into a metal barricade. The next day, the officer was still in pain and said she felt as if she had been “hit by a truck,” prosecutors said.

Woods, who ran an HVAC repair business, was arrested in June 2021 and pleaded guilty to assault charges in September 2022.

He also has been charged in Illinois with first-degree murder in the death of a woman killed in a wrong-way car collision on Nov. 8, 2022.

While free on bond conditions for the Jan. 6 case, Woods was pulled over for speeding but drove off and fled from law enforcement. Woods was drunk and driving in the wrong direction down a highway in Springfield, Illinois, when his pickup truck slammed into a car driven by 35-year-old Lauren Wegner, authorities said. Wegner was killed, and two other people were injured in the crash.

Woods was injured in the crash and was taken to a hospital, where a police officer overheard him saying that he had intentionally driven the wrong way on the highway and had been trying to crash into a semi-trailer truck, according to federal prosecutors. He remains jailed in Sangamon County, Illinois, while awaiting a trial scheduled to start in January, according to online court records.

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    55•9 months ago

    While free on bond conditions for the Jan. 6 case, Woods was pulled over for speeding but drove off and fled from law enforcement. Woods was drunk and driving in the wrong direction down a highway in Springfield, Illinois, when his pickup truck slammed into a car driven by 35-year-old Lauren Wegner, authorities said. Wegner was killed, and two other people were injured in the crash

    The best people.

    • @[email protected]
      34•9 months ago

      This is why he should have been in jail. Violent crimes (like trying to overthrow the government) should never be eligible for bond/bail.

      • @thepianistfroggollumEnglish
        13•9 months ago

        The problem is that innocent people charged with violent crimes will sit in jail for months or years awaiting trial.

        • @[email protected]
          3•9 months ago

          If something as simple as considering public video evidence of the direct action can’t be used to determine bail then why have a bail system in the first place.

    • @[email protected]
      11•9 months ago

      Guaranteed he’s one of the shits that goes on social media to bitch about the “catch and release” of other criminals.

      • @[email protected]
        2•9 months ago

        What, now you can’t even assault people tackle people into the wall kill people in a drunken car chase do harmless outside activities anymore? I thought this was America! Political correctness has truly gone too far!