Physician Who Slugged Officer in Capitol Sentenced

A Massachusetts medical doctor who punched a police officer during a mob attack on the US Capitol was sentenced Thursday to nine months of imprisonment followed by nine months of home confinement. Jacquelyn Starer was in a crowd of rioters inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when she struck the officer with a closed fist and shouted a profane insult, the AP reports. Starer told US District Judge Timothy Kelly that she isn't proud of her actions that day, including her "regrettable encounter" with the officer. "I accept full responsibility for my actions that day, and I truly wish reason had prevailed over my emotions," she said.

Starer turned to apologize to the officer whom she assaulted. Identified only by her initials in court filings, the officer told the judge she feared for her life as she and other officers fought for hours to defend the Capitol from the mob of Donald Trump supporters. "Do you really take responsibility for your actions or are you just going to say: 'It wasn't my fault. Fight or flight'?" the officer asked Starer before she addressed the court. Starer, 70, of Ashland, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in April to eight counts, including a felony assault charge, without reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors, per the AP.

Online licensing records indicate that Starer agreed in January 2023 not to practice medicine in Massachusetts. She attended then-President Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House on Jan. 6, then entered the Capitol through the Rotunda doors after they were breached. She joined other rioters in trying to push past officers guarding a passageway to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. Starer pushed through other rioters to reach the front of the police line, where she yelled at officers. When another rioter tried to hold her back, Starer grabbed that person's arm, pushed it down, then shoved against the police line. When one of those officers pushed Starer back, she turned around and punched the officer. The assault was captured on video by a police body camera.

(More Capitol riot stories.)