Criminal Justice
‘Strapped’ former BigLaw associate is arrested for alleged confrontation with National Guard members
National Guard troops stand guard near the Metropolitan Detention Center on June 9 in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo by Eric Thayer/The Associated Press)
A fired Covington & Burling associate was arrested last week for allegedly thrusting his shoulder into a member of the National Guard and making threatening statements to other National Guard members patrolling Washington, D.C.
Former associate Paul Anthony Bryant was first in the news for using LinkedIn to accuse a Covington & Burling partner of calling him a racial slur. Now, he is facing three charges, Law.com reports. In a video of his arrest posted by Above the Law, Bryant said he doesn’t know why he was detained, and his civil rights are being violated.
Bryant was first arrested Aug. 25 by members of the Metropolitan Police Department. He was arrested by federal officers at his home Aug. 27.
The federal charges against Bryant are assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; impeding a federal official by a threat; and threatening to kidnap or injure a person, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
A bond hearing was postponed to Sept. 12, according to a docket entry on PACER. A federal magistrate judge ordered Bryant’s release, but the government has appealed that decision.
The allegations are summarized in the complaint’s statement of facts and an Aug. 28 emergency motion by prosecutors to stay Bryant’s release.
Bryant approached a group of National Guard members Aug. 24. He allegedly made statements to the effect that he was “strapped,” “these are our streets” and “I’ll kill you.” The National Guard members understood “strapped” to mean that Bryant was armed.
Bryant then approached additional National Guard members and “threw his left shoulder” into the left shoulder of one of them, making physical contact, the emergency motion said.
The National Guard members told the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., about the confrontations. Officers stopped Bryant and found an unholstered handgun in his rear waistband. Bryant informed officers that he had a magazine for the gun in his car. A search turned up the magazine along with ammunition and a shotgun, according to the court documents.
While he was handcuffed, Bryant “repeatedly yelled derogatory names and racial slurs at the MPD officers,” prosecutors said in the emergency motion. At one point, he allegedly told officers that if they went to another area of Washington, D.C., someone “not as civilized as [him] would shoot them in the head.” Bryant allegedly said he would “look at that and say he deserved it.”
All the weapons found by officers “were lawfully purchased, properly registered in the District, and carried under a valid license,” Bryant’s lawyers said in an Aug. 31 court filing opposing pretrial detention.
“If the government had even a shred of credibility left, it has now obliterated it,” the defense document said. “These charges are flimsy at best, yet the government would have this court believe that no combination of conditions could reasonably ensure the safety of the community when the accused is a decorated Army lieutenant, a graduate of West Point and Columbia Law School, a former Covington associate, a member of the D.C. Bar, and an officer of this court—with zero criminal history.”
“At most,” the filing continued, “the allegations amount to words—‘I’ll kill you’—followed by a shoulder check.”
When Bryant accused Covington & Burling of firing him on LinkedIn, he described himself as “a Black, neurodivergent former fifth-year BigLaw corporate attorney with severe post-traumatic stress disorder,” RollOnFriday reports.
He said he was seeking a $30 million settlement with the law firm, and he would “solicit the help of the president, Donald J. Trump, to strike an adequate deal with Covington.”
A Covington & Burling spokesperson previously denied Bryant’s allegations, calling them “false and repugnant,” according to RollOnFriday and Law.com. The spokesperson declined to comment when Law.com asked whether the firm had implement additional safety measures at its offices in light of the events.
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