NKY student charged in U.S. Capitol breach

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A northern Kentucky student is accused in federal court records of participating in the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.

Nicholas Brockhoff of Covington was arrested in May and then indicted in August on eight felony counts including assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; use of a deadly or dangerous weapon and obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder.

He pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia in Washington D.C., federal court records show.

Brockhoff is being held without bail awaiting trial.

FOX19 NOW has reached out to his attorney for comment. We will update this story once we hear back.

A review of voting records by our news partner at the “Cincinnati Enquirer” shows the now 21-year old registered to vote in 2019 but has never voted, not even in the 2020 presidential election that many at the Capitol that day sought to overturn.

While reviewing surveillance footage of the incident, an FBI agent saw someone later identified as Brockhoff “assaulting law enforcement officers,” the agent wrote in the “Statement of Facts” in Brockhoff’s criminal complaint.

The FBI determined Brockhoff stood on a scaffolding outside the Capitol and sprayed a fire extinguisher at officers with the Metropolitan Police Department and the United States Capitol Police below as the officers attempted to keep others back, the agent wrote.

The spray made officers disperse and obstructed their eyesight. Then, Brockhoff went into the Capitol building through a broken window, the court documents state.

While reviewing surveillance footage of this incident, an FBI agent said he saw someone later identified as Brockhoff “assaulting law enforcement officers,” according to the “Statement of Facts.”

“Brockhoff’s actions caused the dispersing of law enforcement officers and impeded law enforcement officers from performing official duties,” the court record reads.

The FBI agent wrote that he personally interviewed two of the officers who were standing below Brockhoff “as he sprayed the contents of the fire extinguisher at them. Both officers stated that they were hit with the contents of the fire extinguisher, which caused law enforcement to disperse, and obstructed law enforcement’s ability to see.”

Brockhoff wore a police helmet he said he found on the ground, according to his criminal complaint.

As part of their investigation, the FBI reviewed body camera footage from Metropolitan Police Department officers who were at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

It showed Brockhoff “in possession of a stolen MPH helmet.

Metropolitan police told Brockhoff in an exchange captured in the body camera footage, according to the affidavit: “Now you’re locked up. Now you’re locked up. Turn around. Get him (Brockhoff) out. You’re going to come out with an MPD helmet?”

Brockhoff responded: “I just found it on the ground.”

When an officer asked him his name, Brockhoff told them “Nick.”

“Nick what?” the officer asked, according to the affidavit, and he responded: “Brockhoff.”

The “Statement of Facts” also includes several photos from video footage at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”

“Figure One is an image taken from surveillance footage on January 6, 2021. Brockhoff is the individual circled in red,” the FBI agent wrote in the court document.

“Figure Two is an image taken from surveillance footage on January 6, 2021, which depicts the same event from a different and closer angle,” the FBI agent wrote in the affidavit.

“In Figure Two, Brockhoff can be seen wearing the same blue jacket with a green hood lining and a backpack with a yellow tag, which can be seen in later, close-up photos taken outside the U.S. Capitol.”

“In Images Two and Three,” the court document continues, “Brockhoff is discharging the contents of fire a fire extinguisher from the scaffolding near the Lower West Terrace. Brockhoff discharged the content from the fire extinguisher from the elevated position onto both MPD and USCP law enforcement officers who were standing beneath BROCKHOFF and attempting to hold back the rioters.”

“In Figure Three, Brockhoff is wearing the blue jacket with a green hood lining and is holding a red fire extinguisher. See, Figures Four-Eight,” the court record states. “Brockhoff is the individual circled in red in each of the Figures below.”

The fourth photo is from a police body camera that depicts the following exchange between Brockhoff and a second Metropolitan police officer, according to the affidavit:

“Are you injured?” the officer asked him.

He said “A little bit,” according to the court record.

“Are you injured from MPD or climbing through a window?” the officer asked.

“BROCKHOFF replied: “Glass, glass, glass, yeah.”