SEATTLE -- A former Seattle resident who made and threw "Molotov cocktails" at police officers on May Day 2016 was sentenced in federal court Friday to 37 months in prison.
Wil Casey Floyd, 33, of Elkhart Lake, Wis., was arrested in April 2017 after a lengthy investigation that linked him to a so-called 'Black Bloc' of protesters who threw bottles filled with gasoline at Seattle police during the May 1 protest.
"Throwing gasoline filled bottles during a protest -- there are all sorts of people out there, old people, young people ... it could have caused serious injury or death," Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez said at the sentencing hearing.
According to the plea agreement and other records in the case, Floyd went online to research Molotov cocktails.
"He purchased the necessary supplies and constructed six of the explosive devices using beer bottles," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle said. "Floyd threw five of the unlit destructive devices at Seattle police officers. One of the Molotov cocktails thrown at police shattered at the feet of an officer and ignited his trousers when a flash-bang grenade went off. The officer suffered burns to this leg."
At his sentencing hearing Friday, Floyd said that he had gone along with a group of people and "realized it was a mistake, but there was no turning back ... I never intended anyone to get hurt ... I'll never do anything like this again."
Martinez told Floyd that "this country was founded by protest, it's as American as apple pie ... but there are limits, there are rules of law."
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Man pleads guilty to throwing gasoline bomb on May Day
Man pleads guilty to throwing gasoline bomb on May Day