(Source: MIRS.news, Published 12/15/2023) The self-professed executive officer of the Genesee County Volunteer Militia was sentenced to more than four years in prison Friday for clobbering Capitol police with a baton he stole from one of them during chaos on Jan. 6, 2021.
Matthew Krol, 64, of Linden, was also associated with the Wolverine Watchmen, the members of whom were sentenced to prison for the Gov. Whitmer kidnapping plot. He received more than four years in prison and three years of supervised release for assaulting police and was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.
Krol, a residential builder by trade, was part of the “Stop the Steal” rally, pieces of which spilled into the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 with the intention of preventing the U.S. Senate from certifying the Electoral College vote to name Joe Biden the next president.
Court documents have Krol as one of the most active instigators of the violent clash between police and rioters that ultimately forced officers to retreat from the West Plaza.
Krol joined the storming of the police line on the West Plaza of the Capitol grounds, according to authorities. He wrestled away a police baton from an officer, pulling the officer in circles before pulling it away.
Krol then celebrated his conduct by holding the baton in the air. He then used it to batter at least three other officers. At about 2:29 p.m. U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell was assisting another officer who had fallen to the ground.
Authorities say Krol swung the baton down on Gonell’s outstretched hand, bloodying it up so badly he told a news outlet later he could barely close it. He also damaged his shoulder during the assault so badly that he had to quit his job after two surgeries.
In the nearly three years since the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, more than 1,230 participants have been charged in nearly all 50 states. More than 440 individuals, including Krol, have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony.
