Tusten native arrested for participating in Capitol riot

(AP) Edward Jacob Lang, the son of former Town of Tusten council member Ned Lang, was arrested last weekend on charges related to the Jan. 6 violet insurrection led by supporters of President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol.

Lang, 25, was arrested by FBI agents Saturday at his home in Newburgh, N.Y., after he posted photos and videos of himself outside the Capitol, prosecutors said in court papers.

A screenshot from Lang’s Instagram account depicts rioters attempting to violently breach the Capitol captioned “THIS IS ME,’’ prosecutors said.

“I was the leader of Liberty today. Arrest me. You are on the wrong side of history,” Lang captioned a video he posted. In another video from the insurrection scene, Lang swung a baseball bat at police officers, striking at least their shields, prosecutors said.

“Guns...That’s it,” Lang said in his affidavit taken by the FBI. “One word. The First Amendment didn’t work, we pull out the Second. We’re all civilized people and we love going to work and praying to God on Sundays and having nice family barbeques...and that was every single person there. No one wants to take this and and die for our rights, but dying for our rights is the only option that any person with a logical brain sees right now. This is it.”

Lang is charged with assaulting an officer, civil disorder and other crimes.

“Decisions have consequences,’’ William Sweeney Jr., the assistant director in charge of the bureau’s New York field office, said in a statement posted on Twitter. ‘Edward Lang is in custody for the ones he made during the assault on our Capitol.’’

It wasn’t clear Sunday whether had an attorney who could speak for them.

The two men are among more than 125 people who have been arrested so far on charges related to the insurrection by Trump supporters aiming to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November presidential election.