A D.C. man has pleaded guilty to assault in connection with an incident where he threw a Molotov cocktail at Capitol Police officers.
Bernard McCutcheon, 27, pleaded guilty to one charge of assault with a dangerous weapon Friday, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
On July 6, prosecutors said, police got a report at about 3:30 p.m. that someone was on the steps of the building at 25 Massachusetts Ave. NW, about two blocks from Union Station, carrying two Molotov cocktails.
The officers approached McCutcheon; he backed away from them, and one of the Molotov cocktails hit the ground near the officers. He then tried to light the second one, then tried to run away, before he was arrested.
Officers found a 2-liter bottle with what appeared to be gasoline in a backpack of McCutcheon’s, the prosecutors said.
They added that McCutcheon was already on probation, having pleaded guilty to the same charge in an April 2021 incident where he threw a lit Molotov cocktail at a woman near a gas station on Rhode Island Avenue in Northwest.
The woman suffered a bruised toe and cuts from glass shards, and her shoe was burned.
McCutcheon has been in custody since his July arrest. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 3.
