Fresh From Arraignment, Protester Is Arrested Again
Rives Grogan, infamous for his loud protests near and inside the Capitol complex, racked up another charge for “unlawful conduct” on Tuesday morning.
Grogan was arrested around 11:40 a.m., Capitol Police spokesman Officer Shennell Antrobus confirmed, after he began screaming from one of the visitors galleries overlooking the House floor about banning assault weapons and abortions.
Just an hour earlier, he was arraigned in D.C. Superior Court for “unlawful conduct at Capitol Grounds,” according to court records. Grogan was released under certain conditions until his trial date, and he apparently decided to head back up to Capitol Hill.
Grogan waited until House lawmakers had completed the ceremonial reading of the Constitution, an early-session tradition established in the previous Congress by the Republican majority. Then he began to shout from one of the sparsely filled pews.
“Ban assault weapons!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “They’re killing our children! Stop abortion! Somebody stop the terrorists!”
He continued this chant, with some variation, as he was forcibly removed from the gallery by officers with the Capitol Police House Chamber Section. Half a dozen officers mobilized to restrain Grogan outside the chamber, their numbers growing as they worked to push him through the third floor walkway that connects the House side to the Senate side of the Capitol. He could be heard screaming down the corridor as he fought off the officers who had apprehended him, and as a curious swarm of reporters looked on.
Grogan was most recently arrested by Capitol Police for interrupting Senate proceedings on Dec. 28, when he yelled anti-abortion slogans from one of the viewing galleries shirtless.
A pastor from the New Beginnings Church in Los Angeles, Grogan is often seen just outside of the Capitol wielding anti-abortion signs and shouting, sometimes accompanied by a young boy. He has in the past been issued court orders to stay away from the Capitol, the White House and the Supreme Court.