Jan. 6 Rioter Arrested On Suspected DWI With AR-15 In Car

If you're on pretrial release, suspected of assaulting two officers at the U.S. capitol on January 6, you should probably try to stay out of trouble altogether. One man decided to go big or go home with violating his pretrial requirements and now, instead of going home, he's going back to jail.

Despite being accused of attacking two officers during what should arguably be called a failed insurrection, James Tate Grant of North Carolina was allowed to walk free until his day in court provided he stay out of trouble. Trouble seems to follow him around, however. Grant had his pretrial release revoked on Tuesday after an incident last month where he was found apparently intoxicated in his car with an AR-15, 60 rounds of ammunition, weapon accessories and combat fatigues. To complete his hat trick of crimes, Grant also fled from police. From NBC:

In the incident last month, a Garner police officer responded to a restaurant in Wake County, North Carolina, around 5 a.m. and found Grant in his vehicle, according to the motion to revoke his release. He appeared to be intoxicated, and the officer began a DWI investigation, it said.

As he was being arrested, Grant tried to flee, the filing said.

"He then dropped to the ground and stated something to the effect of 'Just kill me now.' He then stated, 'It's over,'" according to the filing and the police report.

The government pointed out that Grant violated the terms of his release, which required him to avoid "...possession of firearms, excessive consumption of alcohol and use of narcotics or other controlled substances." As he also tested positive for amphetamines in October and November, it seems Grant violated the terms of his release a whole bunch. And then there's this hilarious little nugget:

During Tuesday's hearing, Grant's attorney, Peter Cooper, said that Grant had the weapon and ammunition in his car in December because he was looking to "dispose" of them so that he could comply with the his conditions of pretrial release.

Kelly, a Trump appointee, wasn't convinced.

"I weighed that, but candidly I didn't find it terribly credible, considering the amount of ammunition he had with him," Kelly told Cooper. "There would have been scores of ways to have, for example, his father dispose of that weapon, store it, do anything with it but get drunk and ride around in a car with it."

"He may well have had an intent to do that, but that was not an intent that was being realized on the day he was arrested," Kelly added.

Yeah, I don't find that credible either Judge Kelly! Especially since this isn't even the first time he's been caught drunk driving with a weapon, according to Law & Crime. Grant was caught in September allegedly driving while impaired while carrying a concealed handgun. It seems his once endless supply of second chances has officially run out and Grant is back in jail as of this week.

And Grant wasn't one of rioters who just wandered around, maybe smeared poop on things or smoked a J in the halls of Congress. He is accused of some fairly serious actions, from Law & Crime:

Prosecutors say Grant was "among those who used violence to set off a chain of events that involved thousands of rioters invading the U.S. Capitol, injuries, deaths, property damage, havoc, and the delay of the certification of a presidential election."

He is one of five co-defendants accused of "violently picking up and pushing a metal barricade at United States Capitol Police Officers, who were manning the barricade[.]" Two officers were injured in that incident, which took place at part of the Capitol known as the Peace Circle.

Prosecutors also all that Grant entered the Capitol building through a broken window and, once inside, entered at least two private Senate offices.

It's kind of infuriating that this dude was given so many second chances and still couldn't keep it together. At least he is finally behind bars and won't have a chance to threaten the safety of others.