MIAMI (Tribune News Service) — A South Florida member of the far-right Proud Boys was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday after federal prosecutors described him as “one of the most violent January 6 rioters” who assaulted at least six police officers while attacking the U.S. Capitol three years ago.

Kenneth Bonawitz, 58, of Pompano Beach, grabbed one of the officers in a choke hold and lifted her up and injured another so badly that he was forced to retire, according to federal prosecutors.

Bonawitz, a member of the Miami chapter of the Proud Boys, was carrying an 8-inch knife in a sheath on his hip when he stormed the Capitol with a mob of Donald Trump supporters after gathering for the president’s “Stop the Steal” rally on the Ellipse before the attack.

“Police seized the knife from him in between his barrage of attacks on officers,“ Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean McCauley wrote in a sentencing memo recommending the high end of the guidelines, or nearly six years in prison. “His violent, and repeated, assaults on multiple officers are among the worst attacks that occurred that day.”

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington DC gave Bonawitz a five-year sentence, followed by three years of supervised release. Arrested a year ago, he pleaded guilty in August to three felonies — one count of civil disorder and two counts of assaulting police.

Last week, a Hialeah man who also belonged to the local Proud Boys chapter was sentenced to four years in prison for participating in the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol, which aimed to block the congressional certification of the presidential election won by Joe Biden. A Washington, D.C., federal judge found 49-year-old Gilbert Fonticoba guilty of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding in October.

Attacks on Capitol Police officers

During the riot, Bonawitz was accused of hurling himself at officers and tackling them to the ground. Bonawitz’s attacks injured one officer so severely that the officer was forced to retire from the U.S. Capitol Police last month.

Sgt. Federico Ruiz, a 20-year veteran with the Capitol Police, suffered serious injuries to his neck, shoulder, knees and back.

“I thought there was a strong chance I could die right there,” Ruiz wrote in a letter addressed to the judge. Ruiz said the injuries inflicted by Bonawitz prematurely ended his law-enforcement career.

“Bonawitz has given me a life sentence of physical pain and discomfort, bodily injury and emotional insecurity as a direct result of his assault on me,” he wrote.

Bonawitz took an overnight bus to Washington, D.C., chartered for Trump supporters to attend his “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6. Bonawitz was one of the first rioters to enter the Upper West Plaza once the crowd overran a police line on the north side, according to court records. He jumped off a stage built for President Joe Biden’s inauguration and tackled two Capitol police officers.

After police confiscated his knife and released him, Bonawitz assaulted four more officers in the span of seven seconds, according to court records. He placed one of the officers in a headlock and lifted her off the ground, choking her.

“Bonawitz’s attacks did not stop until (police) officers pushed him back into the crowd for a second time and deployed chemical agent to his face,” the prosecutor wrote in the sentencing memo. More than 100 police officers were injured during the siege.

More than 1,200 charged in Jan. 6 riot

More than 1,200 defendants have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. About 900 have pleaded guilty or been convicted after trials. Over 750 have been sentenced, with nearly 500 receiving a term of imprisonment, according to data compiled by The Associated Press. Dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates have been arrested on Jan. 6 charges.

Last year, a jury convicted former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, a longtime Miami resident, and three lieutenants of seditious conspiracy charges for a failed plot to forcibly stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden after the 2020 election.

Bonawitz wasn’t accused of coordinating his actions on Jan. 6 with other Proud Boys. But he “fully embraced and embodied their anti-government, extremist ideology when he assaulted six law enforcement officers who stood between a mob and the democratic process,” the prosecutor wrote.

“Moreover, since pleading guilty in this case, Bonawitz has specifically disavowed portions of the statement of offense to which he swore, and, in doing so, has demonstrated that he still takes pride in his conduct on January 6, 2021, including his assaults against multiple police officers,” McCauley wrote in the sentencing memo.

Bonawitz’s lawyers didn’t publicly file a sentencing memo before Wednesday’s hearing.

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