A New Jersey man who admitting throwing a firecracker toward police officers during the 2020 protests Downtown over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis will serve two years in federal prison.
Nicholas Frank Lucia, 27, of Long Beach Township, was sentenced via video conferencing on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab.
He pleaded guilty in December to one count of obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder.
In addition to his prison term, Lucia must also serve three years of supervised release.
The term of incarceration will run concurrent to an expected state court sentence stemming from the same day and conduct.
The case, which includes charges of aggravated assault, rioting, reckless endangerment and possessing a weapon of mass destruction in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, is scheduled for June 15.
In the federal case, the government said that, on May 30, 2020, Lucia lit a firecracker and threw it at a group of about a dozen police officers. One officer managed to get it away, and it exploded about 15 feet from them.
One officer, prosecutors said, sustained a concussion.
Defense attorney Patrick Livingston said his client has used his time since his arrest well. He completed an in-patient drug treatment program and finished his first semester studying glass technology at Salem Community College.
Lucia, who has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety, used marijuana — and then other drugs — to cope.
“On the back side of this sentence, he has an opportunity to come out of this stronger than he went into it,” Livingston said.
Lucia apologized to the court.
“I had no intention of causing any harm,” he said.
