Left-Wing Extremists Sentenced for Attack on Police Officer

AP Photo/Robin Rayne

A married couple of far-left extremists pleaded guilty last September to a series of charges stemming from a protest they attended back in 2023.

A husband and wife from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court to obstructing law enforcement during a public gathering and protest in 2023, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.

Krystal DiPippa, 42, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan to one count of obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, and her husband Brian DiPippa, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder.

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The protest was in response to a speaking engagement by the Daily Wire's Michael Knowles who was there to talk about trans activism. Here's a description of what the DiPippa's pleaded guilty to doing.

On Tuesday, April 18, 2023, The University of Pittsburgh hosted guest speaker Michael Knowles to speak on “Womanhood and Transgenderism” at the O’Hara Student Center located at 4024 O’Hara Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213. The event was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.  At approximately 6:30 p.m. on that date, a group of approximately 300-350 protesters began to gather in the vicinity of the O'Hara Student Center.  At approximately 7:01 p.m., one (1) cardboard effigy displaying a depiction of Michael Knowles’ face was burned on O’Hara Street using a red road flare (See Figure 1).  At approximately that same time, a smoke bomb type of device, contained in a glass jar, was ignited and placed on the ground among the persons who were lined up to attend the Knowles event...

Video footage and photographs shows a male dressed in green shoes, black pants, blue “Carhartt” jacket, black face mask, glasses and carrying a black satchel bag (male later identified as B.D.) as the individual responsible for rolling the device with his right hand. At approximately 7:13 p.m., the second device emitting smoke and fire was thrown over a police barricade, towards UPP officers and ticketholders as they were lined up and entering the O’Hara Student Center (Figure 3). Video footage and photographs show B.D. throwing this second device as well. As the second smoke bomb was still burning and emitting smoke, B.D. can be seen grabbing and shaking police barricades, appearing to attempt to defeat the barricades and rush the entrance of O’Hara Student Center. UPP officers gave verbal commands telling protesters to get back, as protesters began rushing the entrance to the O’Hara Student Center. Protesters then moved around the corner of the O'Hara Student Center toward the rear entrance of O’Hara Student Center. 

At Approximately 7:31 p.m., the explosive firework was thrown and detonated into a group of twelve (12) UPP officers who had rushed to that area in response to the movements of the protesters.  Video footage and photographs show B.D. igniting the device while hiding behind a female dressed in white face mask and glasses and wearing black shoes, black pants, a white "puffy" jacket, and red scarf (female later identified as K.D.). 

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The result of this was that several officers were injured and checked out by first responders and one, a female officer, went to the hospital with more serious injuries.

 A campus police sergeant told the court she had been knocked down when the device exploded as she tried to bat it away. She said she suffered burns to her legs, hearing loss and back injuries that required surgery.

Yesterday the lovely couple responsible for this attack were sentenced. Brian DiPippa got several years while his wife mostly got a slap on the wrist.

A Regent Square man will spend five years in prison after he hurled a firework at police and injured several officers during a transgender issues protest at the University of Pittsburgh in 2023...

U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan sentenced Ms. DiPippa to three years of probation. She plead guilty in September to charges of conspiracy and obstruction of law enforcement. Brian DiPippa pleaded guilty to using an explosive to commit a federal felony.

The couple also must jointly pay over $47,000 in restitution to a Pitt police officer for financial damages the officer suffered from injuries caused by the couple, and $1,400 to the university.

Despite all of this, Andy Ngo points out that no one seems to be reporting that this couple has a long history of far-left activism. He refers to them as the "Antifa terror couple."

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It's odd how that happens. Almost as if the media doesn't want to state the obvious about some left-wing groups who openly support political violence.

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David Strom 8:00 AM | January 08, 2025
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