Crime

Former Boston officer indicted in Jan. 6 assault on Capitol cop

Former Boston police officer Joseph Robert Fisher pleaded not guilty Wednesday to eight criminal charges, including assaulting a Capitol police officer.

In this image from US Capitol Police video, Joseph Robert Fisher appears inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. The former Boston police officer was arrested March 30 on charges that he assaulted a police officer after storming the Capitol with a mob of President Donald Trump supporters.

By Morgan Rousseau

September 15, 2023

A former Boston police officer was indicted on federal charges last week for allegedly assaulting an officer during the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, The Boston Globe reported.

Plymouth resident Joseph Robert Fisher, 52, was indicted Sept. 6 on eight criminal counts, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds. Fisher pleaded not guilty Wednesday during a remote arraignment in a federal court in Washington D.C., according to the newspaper.

Fisher reportedly attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally on the National Mall in support of former President Donald Trump. FBI officers arrested Fisher at his Plymouth home on March 30 after surveillance footage surfaced that allegedly showed Fisher entering the U.S. Capitol at 2:24 p.m. following Trump’s speech encouraging his supporters to fight the certification of President Joe Biden, according to officials. He was released on personal recognizance shortly after his arrest.

A federal affidavit said surveillance footage captured a man — later identified as Fisher — wearing a beanie with the logos of several Boston sports teams. The video allegedly shows Fisher pushing a chair into a Capitol officer as he chased another rioter who had pepper sprayed a group of officers. Fisher then allegedly “engaged in a physical assault against the victim, which ended with Fisher on the ground and out of the camera frame.”

According to the Globe report, Fisher worked for the Boston Police Department from December 1994 until his retirement in December 2016. During his final year with the force, Fisher was assigned to the “Medically Incapacitated Section” and his final active assignment came as a member of the department’s K-9 unit.