WASHINGTON — A federal judge granted a Jan. 6 defendant permission to travel to Florida to join in disaster relief efforts Wednesday as Hurricane Ian was preparing to make landfall near Fort Myers.
Ian was upgraded early Wednesday morning to a Category 4 hurricane capable of producing winds of 130-156 miles per hour. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Category 4 hurricanes can be expected to produce “catastrophic” damage.
“Well-built framed homes can sustain severe damage with loss of most of the roof structure and/or some exterior walls,” the NHC says in an online wind-scale guide. “Most trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.”
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the State of Florida on Saturday, and as of Wednesday, more than 1,300 federal response workers were already on the ground in the state in preparation for the storm to make landfall.
Also on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan granted a request from Alex Harkrider, of Carthage, Texas, to join relief efforts on the ground in Florida for up to two weeks.
Harkrider, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran currently awaiting trial on multiple felony counts connected to the Capitol riot, volunteered with the non-profit disaster relief organization Rescue the Universe prior to his arrest last January. Harkrider was released in April 2021 to home detention with location monitoring, but Hogan has granted his attorney Kira Anne West’s requests multiple times over the past year to allow him to join disaster relief efforts. Last summer, Hogan allowed Harkrider to volunteer three times with the Cajun Army disaster recovery organization in Louisiana in response to Hurricane Ida. Hogan also granted West’s request in December 2021 to allow Harkrider to travel to Kentucky to provide disaster relief effort following a devasting tornado outbreak in the western part of the state. West asked Hogan on Tuesday to allow Harkrider to travel to Tampa to provide the same relief to those affected by Hurricane Ian.
“The current situation in Florida is that citizens will suffer the effects from Hurricane Ian and the ravages of the storm,” West wrote. “As previously presented by the defense, Mr. Harkrider as a long history of volunteerism, specifically with hurricane rescues which he did for several years prior to his arrest in this case.”
West said Harkrider will be supervised by a fellow Marine while assisting with the relief efforts, and noted the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not oppose the motion.
Harkrider, who faces felony counts of carrying a dangerous weapon — a tomahawk — onto Capitol grounds as well as obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder, was scheduled to begin trial in November alongside Ryan Nichols, of Tyler, Texas. However, that date was vacated at the request of Nichols’ attorney and a new trial date had not yet been set. Both defendants were next due in court on Oct. 7 for a motion hearing.
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