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The brother of the late Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt was charged with a hate crime after he allegedly launched into a foul-mouthed racist tirade at a California roadblock.
Roger Stefan Witthoeft Jr., 33, of Lakeside, allegedly tried to punch a San Diego Gas & Electric Company traffic controller in September 2021 after he got stopped by roadblocks on Voltaire Street and Mendocino Boulevard in Point Loma. Witthoeft started yelling a ‘number of racial slurs’ at the victim and knocked off his hardhat, it is alleged.
He reportedly yelled while shoving the unidentified worker: ‘Go back to your country you f**king immigrant. Why don’t you talk in English, you f**king immigrant.’ It is unclear what language the worker spoke to him in.
Witthoeft, whose Air Force veteran sister was shot dead by Capitol Police Lieutenant Michael Byrd during the January 6 riots, was arraigned on March 1 for a battery charge with a hate crime enhancement. That saw him charged with violating a Latino worker’s constitutional rights by threatening force, the San Diego Attorney’s Office said. He pleaded not guilty.

Roger Stefan Witthoeft Jr., 33, of Lakeside, was arraigned on March 1 for a battery charge with a hate crime enhancement and for violating a Latino worker’s constitutional rights by threatening force. He pleaded not guilty

He is the brother of Ashli Babbitt, a January 6 Capitol rioter who was shot dead by police

Witthoeft is pictured with his late sister in an undated photograph
Witthoeft had driven up to the road closure around 11pm on September 14 and the worker informed him he would have to take a detour around the construction.
It is unknown if he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time, and his trial is expected to start in April.
Witthoeft worked at his sister’s pool company called Fowler’s Pool Service & Supply Inc, which she owned with her second husband Aaron. Following her death, a poster adorned the company’s front door that read: ‘Mask Free Autonomous Zone. Better Known as America.’
The pool company has been sued twice for breach of contract, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Witthoeft revealed he was related to Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt in a New York Times article last year where he said he was surprised his sister went to the January 6 Capitol riot, but not that she protested.
‘My sister was 35 and served 14 years — to me that’s the majority of your conscious adult life.’ he told the Times August. Babbitt was an Air Force veteran. ‘If you feel like you gave the majority of your life to your country and you’re not being listened to, that is a hard pill to swallow. That’s why she was upset.’

She and a group of others tried to get inside the Speaker’s Lobby in the Capitol and when two men hoisted her up into the hole in the door, she was shot and fell backwards with blood pouring out of her mouth

Babbitt can be seen receiving CPR at the Capitol on January 6 2021 after she was shot dead

U.S. Capitol Police Michael Byrd is seen minutes before fatally shooting Babbitt she and other rioters were breaking into the Speaker’s Lobby where members of Congress were retreating
The 35-year-old rioter was shot and killed after she and a group of others smashed glass on the door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby of the Capitol, where lawmakers were barricaded in. Babbitt, who was wearing a Trump flag around her neck as a cape, was shot by plain-clothed cop Michael Byrd after two men hoisted up into the broken window, causing her to fall backward with blood pouring out of her mouth.
Byrd was never criminally charged, and was cleared of all professional wrongdoing, to the fury of Babbitt’s family. He argued that he shot as a ‘last resort’ to ‘save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers.’
Babbitt became obsessed far-right politics following her release from the military. She reportedly frequently engaged in QAnon and other conspiracy theories online before traveling to the riot. She reported flew a QAnon flag above her Ocean Beach home.
The far-right now consider Babbitt a martyr for their cause and Trump called her an ‘incredible person’ in a tape birthday greeting to her in October. The former president also demanded the Justice Department reinvestigate her death, which has already gone through two investigations.
Source: dailymail