- Capitol riot defendant James Grant was ordered back to pre-trial detention on Tuesday.
- Grant is charged with assaulting officers at the Capitol barricades on January 6.
- In Dec. 2021, he was arrested in North Carolina on a DUI charge, and police found guns and ammo in his car.
A North Carolina man who was charged with assaulting Capitol Police officers on January 6 was detained again after he was arrested on a DUI charge and attempted to flee police last December.
Judge Timothy Kelly ordered James Grant back to pre-trial detention during a hearing on Tuesday. Kelly also revoked Grant's pre-trial release, arguing that Grant violated the terms of his initial release and was a threat to those around him.
During Grant's December arrest, police found an AR-15 rifle with 60 rounds of ammunition and accessories, as well as combat fatigues, in his car. Weeks later, the Justice Department asked Judge Kelly to end Grant's pre-trial release and place him in custody again, which Kelly granted.
Kelly told the courtroom that due to Grant's access to firearms, as well as a combination of his mental health and substance abuse issues, he found that Grant violated the conditions of his pre-trial release, Buzzfeed News' Zoe Tillman reported.
On October 14, 2021, Grant was previously arrested in North Carolina on charges of assaulting Capitol Police officers during the insurrection. He was released the following day.
In court filings, prosecutors claimed that Grant was among the first spotted harassing officers at the Capitol barricades, as former President Donald Trump's speech was still ongoing at the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol.
In his indictment, prosecutors said that Grant and another defendant, Ryan Samsel, were among the first to prompt confrontations at the police barricades near the Peace Monument at the Capitol Grounds. The Justice Department alleged that Samsel and other accused rioters tossed the barricade as Grant waved others into the grounds.
The accused rioters lifted up the metal barricade and shoved it "forward into the officers pushing them back from their positions and causing at least one officer to fall to the ground into the steps behind her and suffer a head injury and another officer to suffer an ankle injury," prosecutors said in court documents, adding that Grant and others continued harassing the officers until they were overwhelmed.
Grant is among more than 750 people charged in connection with the January 6 insurrection.
Grant was arrested on December 7, 2021, when a police officer was responding to a suicide threat report in Garner, North Carolina, according to court documents. Prosecutors said the officer found Grant drunk and that Grant told the officer that "they [the DOJ] probably called on me" because of his "January 6th incident."
According to the police report, Grant attempted to flee while the officer arrested him.
"He then dropped to the ground and stated something to the effect of 'Just kill me now,'" prosecutors claimed that Grant told the officer in a court filing. "He then stated, 'It's over.'"
In the Justice Department's filing ahead of Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors wrote that, "Grant's statements are of such a concerning nature that there is reason to believe he is a danger not only to the community, but also to himself."
They added that Grant had also twice failed drug tests, which he had agreed to be subjected to as part of the conditions of his initial release.
Following the judge's decision, Grant is set to remain in custody as his case is pending.