Man pleads to setting fire to Pittsburgh police car during protests Downtown

A Pittsburgh man accused of setting an unmarked police car on fire during the May 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis pleaded guilty Monday in federal court.

Devin Montgomery, 27, was ordered to serve four years in prison as part of the plea agreement he reached with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In addition to an arson count, Montgomery also pleaded guilty to breaking into the Smithfield Street Dollar Bank location the same day after the protests devolved into rioting.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Shaun Sweeney said Monday that Montgomery and an unknown man set fire to an unmarked police car on May 30, 2020.

The protests in Downtown Pittsburgh started that afternoon around 2:30 p.m. on Liberty Avenue and about two hours later had moved to Centre Avenue and Washington Place. It was there, Sweeney said, that members of the crowd started to vandalize a marked Pittsburgh police car before setting it on fire.

The crowd then turned, Sweeney said, and was making its way toward a police line when the officers left the area. The police left behind an unmarked car by the Fifth Avenue entrance to PPG Paints arena.

“The crowd immediately descended on the vehicle,” Sweeney said.

Montgomery was wearing an Antonio Brown jersey. That helped police identify him in video from the incident, Sweeney said.

The video showed him and another man standing next to the rear passenger door, lighting something and tossing it inside the car, Sweeney said. The other person has not been identified, the government said.

The vehicle was destroyed.

After setting the car on fire, Sweeney said, Montgomery made his way Downtown and used rocks to smash the windows of Dollar Bank on Smithfield Street.

As part of the plea agreement, Montgomery must pay $25,635.50 in restitution.

Defense attorney Brian Aston told Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak that his client could have a bright future if he focuses his efforts.

“He had no intentions of going down there and causing trouble that day,” Aston said. “He got sucked into the mob mentality and lost control of his own behavior through the course of the day.”

Montgomery told the judge he was responsible for what happened.

“I wanted to experience the protest and show my support,” he said.

But then, the police started to use tear gas, Montgomery said.

“We were down there protesting police brutality, and I felt like I was being assaulted myself,” he said.

Montgomery said his temper exploded, and a few minutes later, he set the fire.

Since his time incarcerated, he told the judge, he has improved himself.

“I’m going to try to keep progressing, and at the end, I’ll be a way better man than I was before,” Montgomery said.