* Press Release…
Two Illinois men, who are brothers, were arrested today on felony and misdemeanor charges for their actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.
Daniel Leyden, 55, of Chicago, was arrested along with his brother, Joseph Leyden, 56, of La Grange. Daniel Leyden is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with the felony offense of assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon. Joseph Leyden is charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers.
Both also are charged with the felony offense of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, as well as four related misdemeanor offenses. Daniel Leyden was arrested in Chicago and his brother was arrested in La Grange. They are to make their initial court appearances today in the Northern District of Illinois.
According to court documents, Daniel and Joseph Leyden were among the rioters who were illegally on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. Shortly after 12:50 p.m., Daniel Leyden was in a crowd that confronted law enforcement officers at metal barricades near the Peace Circle. Daniel Leyden and other rioters repeatedly lifted and pushed a metal barricade.
* The brothers were captured on police body cameras which were used to identify them…
* NBC Chicago…
Federal prosecutors say Daniel Leyden was part of a crowd that assaulted Capitol police officers as they broke through one of the first lines of defense near Peace Monument on the West Side of the grounds, knocking one officer unconscious with a concussion.
That took place in the same area where Officer Caroline Edwards testified before the Jan. 6 special congressional committee that she was pinned down under a bike rack. […]
Both are charged with a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges. They appeared in court Tuesday afternoon and were released on bond.
Attorneys for the Leyden brothers confirmed that the two are both electricians but declined to comment on the case.
* The two brothers are among more than 30 Illinois residents to be charged in the Capitol breach. Tribune…
[Daniel Leyden] and other rioters repeatedly lifted and pushed a metal barricade that ultimately toppled and pinned an officer and the barricade was also used to attack other officers, including one who was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion, according to the statement.
“Daniel Leyden’s actions contributed to injuries that these officers sustained and prevented officers from defending themselves and providing aid to one another,” the statement said.
His brother was also charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers.
“Joseph Leyden advanced and rushed toward an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department. He then lunged at and pushed the officer,” according to the statement.
* A former Chicago police officer also charged is refusing a plea deal, NBC Chicago reported …
A former Chicago police officer is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to authorities.
And while court records show that a plea deal is on the table for the former officer, he has so far rejected it.
Officer Karol Chwiesiuk, 29, faces a slew of charges including entering a restricted building without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to a criminal complaint against him. […]
Chwiesiuk, a 2.5-year member of CPD’s force, was relieved of his police powers on June 2, 2021, according to Supt. David Brown.
* WBEZ…
Chwiesiuk was on medical leave from CPD when he traveled to Washington to attend a Jan. 6, 2021, rally supporting then-President Donald Trump, according to a criminal complaint filed in June that year.
The police officer said in a text to a friend that he was going “to save the nation” and was “busy planning how to [expletive] up commies.”
Inside the Capitol, Chwiesiuk texted photos of himself while wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with a Chicago Police Department logo, according to prosecutors.
Chwiesiuk was also part of a mob that broke into the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, prosecutors alleged. The office ended up trashed.
- Jerry - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:07 pm:
I thought these were just tourists.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:11 pm:
===The two brothers are among more than 30 Illinois residents to be charged in the Capitol breach===
Who knew Illinois had so many Antifa activists?
- Skeptic - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:12 pm:
Travels to D.C. while on medical leave from work. And I’d bet he talks about how people don’t want to work any more and how they make more money staying home.
- Dysfunction Junction - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:22 pm:
Back the Blue. Amirite?
- illini - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:38 pm:
It has been reported in various Facebook posts that there were buses chartered from several downstate counties to be in DC for this “tourist visit”. I wonder how these trips can be researched and if anything could be discovered about these tourists and their activities that day.
I think many constituents of both Mary and Chris Miller would like to know exactly where they were when the coup was going on. We know where their truck was parked, but where were they - in hiding or leading the charge?
- James the Intolerant - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:43 pm:
Still hard to believe that reinforcements weren’t called in very early when it was apparent what was going to happen.
- SWIL_Voter - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:45 pm:
“there were buses chartered from several downstate counties”
M Goode Realty in Bethalto advertised their J6 bus trip on the marquee in front of their office
- Google Is Your Friend - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:49 pm:
Darren Bailey’s going to be running the largest jail and prison VBM program.
- Crispy - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:55 pm:
James @ 1:43: According to some reports, that lack of reinforcements was by design–at least to the extent that you can attribute genuine “planning” to members of the former administration.
- LakeCo - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:58 pm:
Commies? Didn’t the get the memo that the Party of Trump is pro-Russia now?
- Suburban Dad - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 1:58 pm:
If IBEW leaders had any guts and consider the union to be patriotic, they should kick the Leyden brothers out of the union for their treasonous activity.
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 2:07 pm:
Suburban Dad, well at least after conviction, not before.
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 2:08 pm:
It amuses me to think of people thinking they got away with something just to get caught later. I wonder if any thought will be made to extending the statute of limitations on these cases? They did that with fraud cases from the pandemic, so not a constitutional matter I guess.
- Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 2:08 pm:
We strongly oppose impeaching the president over J6—ILGOP. The door is wide open for authoritarians in that party, and they’ve turned on the establishment ironically.
- Sir Reel - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 2:11 pm:
January 6 criminals, it’s a family thing.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 2:37 pm:
=== Commies? Didn’t the get the memo that the Party of Trump is pro-Russia now? ===
“Commies” is one of the Pavlovian code words used by MAGA world to elicit a conditioned hate response. Users of the code word don’t worry about the correct actual political philosophical basis for its use. MAGA propagandists are constantly conditioning their cultists with new code words, like CRT …
- Flying Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 3:05 pm:
Knew a few LEO like Chwiesiuk in my day. They’d go on service-connected if they pulled a muscle tying their shoes.
- Loyal Virus - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 3:05 pm:
Burgess Owens: “servant leader” wut?
- Joe Bidenopolous - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 3:06 pm:
==Still hard to believe that reinforcements weren’t called in very early when it was apparent what was going to happen.==
You’re kidding, right? Metro police were calling for backup before the event. Once it started they called for more and the orange blob in the White House denied sending the national guard - Pence is the one who authorized it hours later
- Amalia - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 3:19 pm:
Good. More insurrectionists caught and being prosecuted.
- StateEmployeeThatIsNotInAFSCME - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 3:57 pm:
==If IBEW leaders had any guts and consider the union to be patriotic, they should kick the Leyden brothers out of the union for their treasonous activity.==
As AFSCME 31 should have done last year to the prison workers and other state employees who were opposing the Governor’s vaccine mandates.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 4:03 pm:
===should have done last year to the prison workers and other state employees who were opposing the Governor’s vaccine mandates.===
No.
You let them leave. As a union it should’ve been supported.
AFSCME is not a union, it’s membership wilted to its own charge.
To the post,
Prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, let the law take its course to the courts, let the defendants face the court.
- Sox Fan - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 4:49 pm:
I have a friend who is a Capitol Police officer. Tells me it was the worst day of his life. Don’t let anytime tell you it was anything other than a coup attempt
- JB13 - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 5:17 pm:
Very glad these insurrectionists were in the anti-mask crowd. Just imagine how hard it would have been to ID these people if they had followed CDC guidance
- Anon324 - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 6:31 pm:
NBC needs to do better fact-checking. Chwiesiuk isn’t a former cop, he’s just in no-pay status and on leave while the investigation is ongoing, as noted in the WBEZ article. I imagine CPD is waiting for the trial to play out before doing anything from an administrative standpoint.
- Da big bad wolf - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 6:45 pm:
=== If IBEW leaders had any guts and consider the union to be patriotic, they should kick the Leyden brothers out of the union for their treasonous activity.===
Excons are welcome if they pay their debt to society. These two might be welcome to go back to bending pipe in about twenty years or so.
- thisjustinagain - Wednesday, Aug 24, 22 @ 7:45 pm:
But to the far-right groupies they are “oppressed heroes of the Liberation” or some such silly thing. The Kool-Aid is strong with these people.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Aug 25, 22 @ 8:41 am:
=“Commies” is one of the Pavlovian code words used by MAGA world to elicit a conditioned hate response. Users of the code word don’t worry about the correct actual political philosophical basis for its use. MAGA propagandists are constantly conditioning their cultists with new code words, like CRT …=
Talk about hitting the nail right on the head. @Norseman really nails it.