Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Age in NPR record
- 30
- Location
- Locust Grove, Georgia
- Charges
- Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon and Aiding and Abetting; Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers; Civil Disorder; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings
- Case status
- Pleaded guilty; Dismissed in part or full; Sentenced
- Presidential action
- Pardon
Case Summary
Among other charges, Jack Wade Whitton is charged alongside four others with assaulting officers with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department on Jan. 6, 2021. According to video footage detailed in court documents, Whitton began striking one officer with a crutch. He then grabbed the officer "by the head and helmet" and "started to drag him down the steps in a prone position" and over the top of another officer who had already been knocked to the ground. Whitton is also seen holding down the officer he dragged into the crowd, who is then "repeatedly struck by other assailants." On Jan. 15, 2021, people on Twitter began using the nickname Scallops, a reference to the pattern of his backpack, to refer to an unidentified man prosecutors now believe to be Whitton. Two days later, a person who went to high school with Whitton called the FBI to identify him. That person also showed law enforcement a text message from Whitton talking about a "bad cop" and saying he had "fed him to the people."
Case History
Whitton pleaded Guilty to one charge: Assaulting, Resisting or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon. The other charges are dismissed. Sentenced on 5/2/2024 to 57 months incarceration with credit for time served; 36 months of supervised release; $2,000 in restitution; Special Assessment of $100. Whitton received a full pardon on January 20, 2025
Sources
- Primary Documentation
NPR Jan. 6 Defendant DatabaseNPR - Primary Documentation
Underlying court recordCourt record linked by NPR - Supporting Reporting
NPR video evidence pageNPR
Case summary, charges, procedural updates and image are drawn from the NPR Jan. 6 archive snapshot dated 2026-09-25 unless otherwise indicated.