Former Detroit Lions LB Antwione Williams charged over January 6th Capitol riot

Former Detroit Lions linebacker Antwione Williams, who was drafted by the franchise in 2016, was charged in connection with his involvement in the US Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. According to a release from the US Attorney’s Office, the 31-year-old is charged with assaulting, resisting, and impeding certain officers. He’s also being charged with obstruction of law during a civil disorder.

Williams was arrested on Thursday in Savannah, Georgia, where he will appear in federal court, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

Other charges that he faces are misdemeanors, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, according to the report from DeJanay Booth-Singleton of CBS News.

The criminal complaint reads that Williams was allegedly among the first people who breached the restricted perimeter and that he even attempted to take a bike rack from an officer. The complaint also alleges that when police pushed a crowd away from the Capitol, Williams “lunged at an officer and swatted at the officer’s hand.”

The FBI found Williams in 2023 after their agents received a tip and compared screenshots of the person during the riot with photos posted on social media and his official photo on the NFL’s website, according to the complaint. In August of 2024, investigators reviewed credit card records associated with Williams that displayed a purchase in the area.

He was selected as a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. The Lions made the decision to waive him ahead of the 2017 season, and he was signed to practice squads for the Vikings, Seahawks, and Carolina Panthers.

During his college football career with Georgia Southern, Williams tallied 229 total tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss, and seven sacks. Following his redshirt senior season, he earned All-Sun Belt honorable mention honors. It was his best year, as he tallied 107 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, and four sacks. Williams also earned All Sun-Belt honorable mention honors following the 2014 campaign.

More than 1,500 people from across the United States have been charged in connection to the riot.