The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Howard Richardson received the sentence after pleading guilty earlier in the year to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.

Richardson waved his flagpole after entering a restricted area of Capitol grounds, according to the Department of Justice, before later hitting a police officer multiple times with the pole.

“He raised it and forcefully swung it downward to strike an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department who was standing behind a metal barricade,” the DOJ wrote of Richardson and the flagpole.

“Richardson then struck the officer two more times, using enough force to break the flagpole.”

Richardson then pushed a “large metal sign into a line of law enforcement officers” along with other rioters, according to the department.

The Pennsylvania native, 72, was arrested in November 2021 before pleading guilty in April.

Richardson will be subject to three years of supervised release after completing his almost four-year in prison sentence, and is required to pay $2,000 in restitution.