WASHINGTON - The long-time partner of a Capitol Police officer who died after the Jan 6 attack sued former president Donald Trump and two Capitol rioters on Thursday, arguing that his death was a “direct and foreseeable consequence” of their roles in the mob violence that day.
The suit, filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia just before the second anniversary of the attack, seeks at least US$10 million (S$13.40 million) in damages each from Mr Trump and two men accused of assaulting officer Brian Sicknick with chemical spray on Jan 6, George Tanios and Julian Elie Khater.
Khater pleaded guilty in the assault, and Tanios pleaded guilty to misdemeanour charges.
“The horrific events of Jan 6, 2021, including Officer Sicknick’s tragic, wrongful death, were a direct and foreseeable consequence of the defendants’ unlawful actions,” the suit said, adding that “the defendants are responsible for the injury and destruction that followed”.
Officer Sicknick died the day after the attack, but the Washington medical examiner ruled that it was from natural causes - multiple strokes that occurred hours after the mob confrontation - and prosecutors shied away from linking his death to the assault.
But the medical examiner also said that “all that transpired played a role in his condition”, and the Capitol police consider his death a “line of duty” fatality.
President Joe Biden marked the second anniversary of the deadly attack on Friday by awarding the “Presidential Citizens Medal” to 14 people, including Sicknick posthumously.
His parents, Charles and Gladys Sicknick, accepted the award on his behalf. Mr Biden held Gladys Sicknick’s hand as the citation about her son was read.
In a White House ceremony, Mr Biden, a Democrat, described the violence that injured 140 police as “fuelled by lies” and the people being honored as “heroes.”
In her suit, Ms Sandra Garza, who as officer Sicknick’s long-time partner is a representative of his estate, painted Mr Trump as culpable both broadly for the violence on Jan 6 and specifically for officer Sicknick’s death.
The suit cited the conclusions of the House committee that investigated the Jan 6 attack, saying that the panel “made a number of criminal referrals” against Mr Trump “based on its finding of ‘sufficient evidence of one or more potential violations’”, including inciting an insurrection.
Mr Trump is facing an array of civil suits arguing that he is liable for major financial damages for his role in the events surrounding the Jan 6 attack.
A federal judge in February allowed three civil suits against Mr Trump to move forward. The case is being appealed.
Officer Sicknick is one of five police officers at the Capitol on Jan 6 who died in the year after the attack.
The four other officers - Jeffrey Smith, Howard S. Liebengood, Gunther Hashida and Kyle DeFreytag - died by suicide. NYTIMES
