By Michael Kunzelman
A New Jersey man (click here) who joined a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison for using pepper spray to assault police officers, one of whom died a day after the siege.
Julian Khater, formerly of the Somerset section of Franklin Township, didn't mention the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick or address the officer's family in a written statement he read aloud before U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan sentenced him to six years and eight months of imprisonment.
A medical examiner concluded that Sicknick, 42, suffered two strokes and died of natural causes a day after he and other officers tried to hold off the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021....
A New Jersey man (click here) who joined a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison for using pepper spray to assault police officers, one of whom died a day after the siege.
Julian Khater, formerly of the Somerset section of Franklin Township, didn't mention the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick or address the officer's family in a written statement he read aloud before U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan sentenced him to six years and eight months of imprisonment.
A medical examiner concluded that Sicknick, 42, suffered two strokes and died of natural causes a day after he and other officers tried to hold off the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021....
Capitol Police Officer Brain Sicknick died of extreme stress and chemical poisoning following the insurrection of January 6, 2021.
It was not natural causes. I don't know who made that decision, but, it is nonsense. Everyone knows it is nonsense. The forensics expert that decided that needs to be fired, because, it is not accurate.
By Shaila Davis
The death of Officer Jeffrey Smith, (click here) who killed himself nine days after confronting a mob at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was the direct result of an injury he sustained during the riot, a retirement board has found.
The ruling marks the first time in the records of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department — and one of very few times across the country — that a suicide has been classified as a line-of-duty death.
The moment may be a tipping point in a crusade to lift long-held taboos against open discussion of depression, addiction and suicide in policing, with several groups pushing for officers to have greater access to confidential counseling and other emotional supports.
Their case was bolstered by the events of Jan. 6, when the nation watched as officers endured assaults, racist slurs and taunts. The names of Officer Smith and Officer Howard Liebengood, a Capitol Police officer who also took his own life, were mentioned in the same breath as those of Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after clashing with rioters, and Officer Eugene Goodman, who lured the mob away from the Senate chamber....
Even if it takes legislation from Congress all these officers need to be recognized as having died in the line of duty. The officers and families should be given respect for the bravery they carried to their attempts to protect the Capitol and the legislators that day including Vice President Pence.
August 2, 2021
By Jan Wolfe
The District of Columbia's police department on Monday (click here) said two more police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol have died by suicide, bringing to four the number of known suicides by officers who guarded the building that day.
Metropolitan Police Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead in his home Thursday, department spokesman Hugh Carew said in a statement.
Hashida joined the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in May 2003....
By Jan Wolfe
The District of Columbia's police department on Monday (click here) said two more police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol have died by suicide, bringing to four the number of known suicides by officers who guarded the building that day.
Metropolitan Police Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead in his home Thursday, department spokesman Hugh Carew said in a statement.
Hashida joined the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in May 2003....
