Army soldier charged with assaulting police officer with a flagpole during Capitol riot

A U.S. Army soldier has been arrested in Hawaii on charges that he repeatedly struck a police officer with a flagpole during a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol more than three years ago, according to court records unsealed on Wednesday.

Alexander Cain Poplin was arrested on Tuesday at Schofield Barracks, an Army installation near Honolulu. Poplin, 31, of Wahiawa, Hawaii, was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday.

The FBI received a tip in February 2021 that Poplin had posted on Facebook about attacking police during the Capitol riot. Poplin wrote that “we took our house back” and “stood for something,” according to an FBI task force officer’s affidavit.