A man who attacked U.S. Rep. Angie Craig in a
Washington, D.C., elevator in February pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, officials said. Kendrid Hamlin, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of assault on a member of
Congress for the attack in the elevator of her apartment building, as well as two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer, prosecutors said. Craig, D-Minn., had bruising but escaped the Feb. 9 attack, her representative said at the time. Craig had said hello to Hamlin, who was in the lobby of an apartment building that morning, but when she went in an elevator he followed her, according to court documents. Hamlin allegedly said he wanted to go to Lee’s apartment and use the restroom, and Lee refused, according to a Capitol
police affidavit in the case. Hamlin then “became agitated,” and when Lee tried to move past him he punched her in the face and grabbed her around her collarbone area, keeping her from the elevator buttons, the affidavit said. Lee threw her hot coffee on him and escaped. Hamlin was arrested that evening by police who recognized him from a description, according to court documents. Hamlin's federal public defender, Katie D’Adamo Guevara, said Thursday that Hamlin accepted responsibility for his actions, and wants and needs mental health treatment and rehabilitation. "Unfortunately, we know that meaningful treatment and rehabilitation will not occur in
prison," she said. Hamlin's public defenders have written in court documents that he was experiencing homelessness and untreated mental illness, and that he was in the lobby of the apartment building that day because of the cold. Craig told
NBC affiliate KARE at the time of the attack that she was violently assaulted. “I don’t know if I had time to be scared. When he demanded to go to my apartment, all I knew at that moment was, there’s no way in hell that’s going to happen,” she said. Hamlin did not know Lee was a member of Congress, his attorney said, and Capitol Police have said there was no evidence she was targeted because of her position. Assaulting a member of Congress carries a maximum of 10 years in prison, and assault on a law enforcement officer is a misdemeanor carrying up to six months each, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement .