WASHINGTON — A 27-year-old D.C. man has pleaded guilty to throwing a Molotov cocktail near U.S. Capitol Police officers earlier this year.
On July 6, 2022, McCutcheon was standing on the steps of 25 Massachusetts Avenue NW when U.S. Capitol Police officers arrived in the area to investigate a 911 call around 3:30 p.m. As the officers approached McCutcheon, he backed away while holding one of the Molotov cocktails. While the officers confronted him, McCutcheon threw the Molotov cocktail, which hit the ground near the officers.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said McCutcheon then took out another prepared Molotov cocktail and attempted several times to light the white cloth hanging from the bottle. After failing to spark the cloth, McCutcheon ran away and collided with a nearby bicycle, causing him to drop the second Molotov cocktail to the ground.
Officers reportedly searched McCutcheon and found a backpack containing a 2-liter soda bottle filled with a pale amber liquid that smelled like gasoline.
McCutcheon has been in custody since his July arrest.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Bernard McCutcheon was already on probation for throwing two Molotov cocktails at a woman while she was walking on a street in Northwest Washington. The bottle landed on the woman's foot and burst into flames, catching her show on fire and bruising her toe. The woman was also cut by the shards of class hitting her shin.
McCutcheon pleaded guilty to throwing the weapon at the woman and was sentenced on May 20 to 13 months in prison with all of the time suspended on the condition that he successfully complete 18 months of supervised probation.
McCutcheon will be sentenced for the July incident on Nov. 3, 2022.
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