After Washington, D.C.’s chief medical examiner confirmed what many on the right suspected – if only because they listened to the family – and announced that U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes and was not killed with a fire extinguisher during the Jan. 6 melee at the Capitol, it left only one person who died a violent death that day.
Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt.
And now her family wants justice, as well as $10 million.
The New York Post reported late last week that the 14-year Air Force veteran’s family would sue the Capitol Police and the officer who shot and killed Babbitt as she tried to enter the lobby of the House of Representatives.
Unlike with almost every other police-involved shooting in America, the shooter has yet to be named. Babbitt’s family’s lawyer has said he knows who pulled the trigger.
On April 14, the Justice Department cleared the unidentified officer.
In a press release, the department said that there was “insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution,” which was based on an investigation of whether the officer violated Babbitt’s civil rights by shooting her.
“Prosecutors would have to prove not only that the officer used force that was constitutionally unreasonable, but that the officer did so ‘willfully,’ which the Supreme Court has interpreted to mean that the officer acted with a bad purpose to disregard the law,” the statement said.
“As this requirement has been interpreted by the courts, evidence that an officer acted out of fear, mistake, panic, misperception, negligence, or even poor judgment cannot establish the high level of intent required under” federal law.
“Specifically, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.”
Democrats and liberal pundits, of course, have remained silent, offering no suggestions that the officer should have fired a warning shot or used less than lethal force, like they have in other recent police shootings.
Yet the Justice Department’s explanation didn’t pass the smell test with the Babbitt family lawyer, Terry Roberts.
“What it looks like is this guy shot this lady for no legitimate law enforcement purpose. And you know, they ought to be pretty ashamed of that,” said Roberts, according to the Post.
“In a free country like ours, it’s very strange and odd that they wouldn’t identify the officer, or even provide some details, explaining why he had to kill her. You would probably expect this kind of thing to happen in Russia,” he added.
“If she committed any crime by going through the window and into the Speaker’s Lobby, it would have been trespassing. Some misdemeanor crime. All a rookie cop would have done is arrest her. And he has plenty of other officers there to assist with arrest.”
Roberts also noted, “You had officers on Ashli’s side of the door in riot gear and holding submachine guns. And on the other side of the door you have another uniformed officer six or eight feet away. Whose life is he saving by shooting her?”
“She’s not brandishing a weapon. She’s on the window ledge.”
Roberts said the family will seek $12 million in damages for Babbitt’s death.
Related News: One False Narrative Down, One To Go, Capitol Cop Died Of Natural Causes But What About ‘Armed’ Trumpsters?
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