Civil lawsuit against Trump for death of officer in Capitol attack
The family of Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, who died after responding to the January 6, 2021 are suing former President Donald Trump.
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A placard is displayed with an image of the late US Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick on it as people wait for an urn with his cremated remains to be carried into the US Capitol, February 2, 2021 (Getty Images)
The estate of Brian Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer who died after responding to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, is suing two rioters involved in the attack as well as former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in inciting the attack.
A civil lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the federal court in Washington, DC, adding to the 2020 presidential candidate's problems, stemming from his efforts to obstruct the peaceful power transfer following Trump's defeat in the 2020 election.
The former president is already named as a defendant in several other civil January 6-related lawsuits, claiming immunity from liability as a result of his presidency.
The lawsuit from Sicknick’s estate was filed a day before the Capitol attack’s two-year anniversary.
Read next: Capitol riots; one of the largest investigations ever
“As Officer Sicknick and hundreds of others—including other police officers, elected officials, and rank-and-file workers at the Capitol—were put in mortal danger, and as the seat of American Democracy was desecrated by the insurgent mob, Defendant Trump watched the events unfold on live television from the safety of the White House,” lawyers for Sicknick’s household and his partner Sandra Garza wrote in the complaint.
“The horrific events of January 6, 2021, including Officer Sicknick’s tragic, wrongful death, were a direct and foreseeable consequence of the Defendants’ unlawful actions.”
In his speech before the Capitol riot on January 6, Trump instructed his supporters in Washington to "fight like hell" and "show strength," according to the lawsuit.
Julian Khater and George Tanios, the two Capitol rioters named in the suit, pleaded guilty last summer to crimes related to the breach. They are set to be sentenced later this month.
Riot aggression
During the riot, Khater took bear spray from Tanios' backpack and sprayed Sicknick and other officers in the face, forcing them to recoil as rioters advanced toward the Capitol steps.
He suffered from multiple strokes and died of natural causes the day after the Capitol attack, according to a 2021 report by DC’s chief medical examiner. The examiner, Francisco Diaz, told the Washington Post that “all that transpired” on January 6 “played a role in his condition.”
The officer's attorneys are asking the court for damages of more than $10 million.
Trump's civil lawsuits
Previous civil lawsuits against Trump have been filed by Democratic lawmakers and other law enforcement officers who responded to the Capitol attack. The federal appeals court in Washington, DC is debating whether to uphold a trial judge's decision that Trump could be held liable for damages for his actions leading up to the riot. If that lawsuit is successful, the Sicknick complaint will almost certainly follow in its legal footsteps.
Read next: Republican party: Capitol attack is "legitimate political discourse"
The final report by the US House January 6 Select Committee on the investigation of the Capitol riots was concluded on December 23, with former President Donald Trump being accused of engaging in a "multi-part conspiracy".
According to the report, the MAGA campaigner "purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud... and for purposes of soliciting contributions," which led to the riots at the Capitol. The report stated that these indicate support for "a multi-part conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 Presidential election."
