Steven Phillip Cappuccio, 54, of Universal City, Bexar County, Texas, United States is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was also a Bradley Fighting Vehicle commander.
On January 6, 2021, Cappuccio went to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., USA. He was among the supporters of Donald Trump who breached the building while a joint session of Congress was certifying the vote of the Electoral College and affirming Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
“Storming the castle, boys!” Cappuccio yelled. He also chanted, “Fight for Trump!”
“Our house!” Cappuccio chanted he reached the Lower West Terrace of the building. He later joined other rioters at the tunnel where he attacked Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges.
Cappuccio stuck his phone in his mouth so he could use both hands to attack Hodges. When another rioter pinned Hodges against a door, Cappuccio ripped a gas mask off the officer’s face and dislodged his helmet.
“How do you like me now, mother f—-r?” Cappuccio asked Hodges. “How do you like me now, f—-r?”
On August 10, 2021, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Cappuccio. On August 11, 2021, he made his initial court appearance virtually before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad in a federal courtroom in San Antonio, Texas and was released on global positioning system (GPS) monitoring and an unsecured $50,000 bond.
In court, Cappuccio claimed that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was in part responsible for his actions. In response, Hodges wrote in a statement to the court, “I’m curious at what point did his mental health condition allegedly take all agency away from his rational mind: Did it seize him before he drove 1,600 miles from his home in Texas to the Capitol? Or only partway, when he stopped to buy goggles for his peaceful First Amendment assembly?”
On July 20, 2023, Cappuccio was convicted of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and aiding and abetting; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; robbery and aiding and abetting; civil disorder; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and act of physical violence in the U.S. Capitol grounds or building. On November 3, 2023, he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden to 85 months in prison and 24 months of supervised release.
CONAN Daily 