June 17, 2021 | 4:35pm | Updated June 17, 2021 | 4:35pm
The gun-toting St. Louis couple who made headlines for drawing weapons on Black Lives Matter protesters pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges Thursday — as the unapologetic husband vowed he’d “do it again” if he had to.
Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and was fined $750, while his wife, Patricia, copped to harassment and was fined $2,000 to settle the case stemming from the high-profile encounter last year.
“I’d do it again,” a defiant Mark McCloskey, a lawyer running for Congress, said outside the courthouse. “Any time the mob approaches me, I’ll do what I can to put them in imminent threat of physical injury because that’s what kept them from destroying my house and family.”
Because both charges are misdemeanors, he will be allowed to keep his law license. The McCloskeys were ordered to give up the firearms they used in the June 28 showdown — but can keep the other weapons they own.
The drama unfolded when several hundred demonstrators marched past the couple’s mansion protesting the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis the previous month.
Images from the standoff show Mark McCloskey clutching an AR-15-style rifle and his wife holding a handgun as the marchers passed the house.
The protesters, who walked through an unlocked gate onto Portland Place, a private road where the McCloskeys live, were seen exchanging words with the couple.
The McCloskeys claimed they felt threatened by the demonstrators.
No one was injured and no shots were fired — but the incident led to the couple’s arrest.
Last month, Mark McCloskey announced that he would seek a US Senate seat.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the gun case said justice was served with the plea deal.
“This particular resolution of these two cases represents my best judgment of an appropriate and fair disposition for the parties involved as well as the public good,” special prosecutor Richard Callahan said after the hearing.
With Post wires
