Daniel Charles Ball, 38, of Homosassa, Fla., is accused of throwing an explosive device at police during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of Justice Department
May 3 (UPI) — A Florida man has been arrested and charged with felony offenses on accusations he threw an explosive device that detonated above law enforcement clashing with rioters in a Capitol tunnel during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack of Congress.
Daniel Charles Ball, 38, of Homosassa, Fla., was arrested and charged Tuesday, the Justice Department announced in a release, adding his name to the list of more than 1,000 people who have been arrested across the country for their involvement in the Capitol attack that sought to subvert the election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
Prosecutors have charged Ball with a dozen offenses related to his actions in Washington, D.C., that day, including throwing an unidentified incendiary device at at least 25 law enforcement officers protecting the Lower West Terrance tunnel from rioters.
A statement of facts says officers in the tunnel described the explosion as “a bomb or a grenade” having gone off.
“The device flashed and exploded multiple times on the officers in the tunnel. One of these explosions included a loud boom that caused all of the officers and some rioters/protesters in the crowd to flinch in unison,” the document states. “After the explosions, Ball faced the officers and extended his left fist up.”
Many officers in the tunnel when the explosion went off remarked to authorities that it was “the most memorable event that day,” according to the document.
One Metropolitan Police Department officer identified in the document as J.S. suffered hearing impairment lasting months. Another, identified as officer T.C., said the pain from ringing in his ears following the explosion was a 10 out of 10 and his hearing was affected for at least two days. Other officers reported ringing in their ears for hours afterward.
“Some thought it was a fragmentation grenade and anticipated pain or significant injury,” the statement of facts states. “Some thought they were going to die. Some officers suffered psychological trauma from the explosion.”
The document states that Ball threw the device shortly before 4:50 p.m., less than two hours after he entered the Capitol via the Senate Wing door where inside he pried a large broken piece of a wooden shutter from a window before exiting the building minutes later.
Between 3:37 p.m. and 4:22 p.m., Ball is accused of conversing on the Upper West Terrace with a woman who told authorities that she didn’t know who he was but he retrieved a long piece of wood from his jacket pocket and asked if she “wanted a souvenir and ‘a piece of history,'” before breaking off some wood and giving it to her, the document states, adding the cost to replace the window shutter was about $760.
Authorities identified Ball at the Capitol through studying various videos taken that day that show him entering the building, stealing the piece of window shutter and assaulting MPD and U.S. Capitol Police officers, including by throwing the explosive device as well as shoving them and aiding other rioters in their assault of law enforcement.
Ball is already serving a sentence of five years’ probation after he was convicted on two counts of battery of a law enforcement officer in an unrelated event.
He was arrest April 27, 2021, near his Florida home by the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office for assaulting five civilians and two police officers.
