The claim that Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died from injuries that were sustained during the Capitol riots on January 6th, which have no evidence to support them, have once again popped back during the first day of hearings in the Democratic-led House Select Committee’s inquiry of that day’s events.
Sicknick, 42, died the very next day after responding to the riot, which happened during the day of January 6, 2021, when lawmakers were counting electoral votes to affirm Joe Biden as the new president over Donald Trump. During the days after these events, many different news outlets reported that the 13-year veteran was beaten with a fire extinguisher, however the medical examiner concluded that Sicknick suffered from a series of strokes and that his death was from natural causes.
Still, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said in his opening remarks that “seven people lost their lives” in the riot. The number would appear to include Sicknick, two officers who died by suicide in the following days, a protester shot by police, two protesters who suffered fatal heart attacks, and another who died of a suspected drug overdose.
Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn also perpetuated the claim regarding Sicknick in his remarks.
“I’d like to take a moment of my time to ask for a moment of silence for my fallen colleague, Officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries he sustained in the line of duty defending the Capitol of our beloved democracy,” Dunn went on to say.
The only person killed during the riot was Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran and Trump supporter who was shot by an as-yet unidentified Capitol Police officer as she attempted to climb through a broken window near the Speaker’s Lobby. The officer was not charged.
The medical examiner spoke with the Washington Examiner where it was revealed that Sicknick was sprayed with some sort of chemical at about 2:20 p.m. and then collapsed at 10 p.m. and was transported to a local hospital. Sicknick then died at around 9:30 p.m. on January 7.
The medical examiner went on to say that while Sicknick did not suffer from an allergic reaction to the chemical irritants he was sprayed with, nor from head injuries, everything that happened played a role in what happened to him.
“The claim that Sicknick died directly at the hands of violent protesters was perpetuated in a Jan. 8 report in the New York Times, citing ‘two law enforcement officials’ who said Sicknick was beaten with a fire extinguisher and died hours later, with those claims making it into a Democratic impeachment memo. In February, the New York Times updated its report about the Capitol riot to say that ‘law enforcement officials initially said Mr. Sicknick was struck with a fire extinguisher, but weeks later, police sources and investigators were at odds over whether he was hit,'” the WE report stated.
“The Justice Department stated in early July that at least 165 rioters had been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers. No one has been charged with causing Sicknick’s death,” the report continued.
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