J6 Rioter Who Tackled Cameraman Like an ‘NFL Linebacker’ is Jailed
A man who tackled a Reuters cameraman “like an NFL linebacker hunting a quarterback after an interception” during the January 6 riots was sentenced yesterday (Wednesday) to four years in prison.
Shane Woods, 45, of Auburn, Illinois, took a running start at the Reuters cameraman with the blow knocking him off his feet and causing his camera to crash to the ground.
Woods and fellow rioters also destroyed camera equipment with one news organization estimating that $30,000 to $40,000 worth of gear was destroyed, according to prosecutors.
Footage of the attack exists with screengrabs being included in the court documents that shows Woods kicking over cameras and shoulder barging the unidentified Reuters cameraman in an unprovoked attack.
Prosecutors said they tried to interview the Reuters camera operator but don’t know if he was injured.
Woods’ sentence was also for attacking and injuring a Capitol police officer that same day who was 100 pounds (45 kilograms) lighter than him in a blindside attack. The officer fell into a metal barricade and the next day said she felt like she had been “hit by a truck.”
“Woods’ actions were as cowardly as they were violent and opportunistic,” prosecutors write.
“He targeted people smaller than him who did not see him coming. He attacked people who had done nothing whatsoever to even engage with him, let alone harm or block him.”
Since the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Woods has also been charged with first-degree murder in Illinois over the death of a woman killed in a wrong-way car collision in November 2022.
While out of jail on bond conditions for the aforementioned Capitol Riot case, Woods was pulled over for speeding but drove off and fled from law enforcement. Woods was intoxicated and drove his pickup truck the wrong way down a highway in Springfield, Illinois when his truck crashed into an oncoming car killing the driver: 35-year-old Lauren Wegner.
Two other people were injured in the collision and an officer later overheard Woods saying that he was intentionally driving the wrong way in an attempt to find a semi-trailer truck.
“Just like on January 6, Woods’ behavior was cowardly, monstrous, and devoid of any consideration of others,” prosecutors write.
A defense attorney said in a court filing that it appears Woods’ “lack of judgment has been exacerbated by his drug and alcohol abuse as well as untreated mental health issues.”
It comes after another rioter from J6 was sentenced to five years last week for attacking an AP photographer after he injected himself with steroids.
Image credits: United States of America v. Shane Jason Woods.
