Jacquelyn Starer, Ashland doctor, arrested and charged in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

ASHLAND — An Ashland doctor was arrested Tuesday and faces charges in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, according to newly released court documents. Jacquelyn Starer, 68, is caught on body camera footage hitting a police officer, a criminal complaint says.

Starer “is a practicing physician licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts,” according to an FBI special agent’s complaint. WBZ-TV confirmed that she once practiced at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain but is no longer active there.

The complaint says Starer was spotted wearing red clothing, including a hat that read “TRUMP” and the number 45, at the “Stop The Steal” rally and in the Capitol.

Footage shows Starer making contact with a Metropolitan Police Department officer on the west side of the Capitol Rotunda shortly before 3 p.m. and then punching the officer, the complaint says. The officer said in a later interview that “a blonde woman wearing a red jacket and hat hit her on the left side of her head,” according to the complaint.

Starer later received first aid after appearing to be “affected by the chemical irritant used during the altercation,” documents show.

The FBI says an online tipster informed them five days after the attack that Starer said she planned to attend a march at the Capitol and boasted that she was “prepared” by showing a ” knife-proof mesh shirt and bottles of pepper spray.” In May 2022, a colleague of the doctor was asked if they recognized starers in the January 6 photos and said, “That’s Jackie.”

An arrest warrant said Starer faces charges including “violent assault, defiance, defiance and obstruction of federal officials,” “civil disorder,” and “physical violence at a Capitol.”

Starer is expected to appear in court later Tuesday. The FBI says a total of 19 people have now been arrested in the Boston area in connection with the attack on the Capitol.

The Jan. 6 Committee of the House of Representatives voted Monday to refer President Donald Trump to the Justice Department for criminal charges in the attack on the Capitol. The proceedings mark the culmination of the panel’s nearly 18-month investigation into the US Capitol attack, which included testimony from dozens of witnesses and a series of high-profile hearings examining the attack and Trump’s role in inciting his supporters to storm the building .