A former NYPD officer and spokeswoman was convicted on Thursday for disrupting the activities of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to stop the counting of electoral votes and keep former President Donald Trump in office.
Sara Carpenter, 53, of Richmond Hill in Queens, was found guilty of two felonies, civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding, along with five misdemeanors.
Carpenter, tried at federal court in Washington, DC, is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
At trial, prosecutors alleged that Carpenter was captured on video shaking a tambourine in front of officers inside the Capitol and screaming: “I’m a [expletive] animal!” She also slapped the arms of officers who were trying to prevent her from going further into the Capitol, and stayed in the building for more than a half-hour, even after being hit with chemical spray.
After leaving, Carpenter said: “They need to certify Trump as president. This is our house.”
Carpenter was first arrested in March 2021. She retired from the NYPD in 2004. The NYPD has said it assisted with the investigation.
Another retired NYPD officer, Thomas Webster, 56, was sentenced in 2022 to 10 years in prison after being convicted of felony assault of an officer. Webster, who once served on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s security detail, was depicted on video tackling an officer and choking the man with the chinstrap of his gas mask.
