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Cause of Capitol Cop’s Death Unclear
Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick died in the aftermath of the rioting at the Capitol on January 6. Shortly thereafter, it was widely reported that Ofc. Sicknick had been murdered by rioters, with the specific claim being that he was hit on the head with a fire extinguisher.
A CNN story last week (here) casts doubt on this narrative. This article is the source of the information and quotes below. It is annoying that the article, in its opening sentence, describes the riot as an “insurrection.”
CNN correctly reports that the Capitol Police released a statement (here) about Ofc. Sicknick’s death on January 7, stating that he had died at approximately 9:30 p.m. on January 7. Note that this is the day after the riot, and more than 24 hours after order had been restored. The police statement stated:
Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters. He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
The injuries and details were not specified.
The CNN article generally relies on unnamed sources, but states the following (emphasis added):
- “Authorities have reviewed video and photographs that show Sicknick engaging with rioters amid the siege but have yet to identify a moment in which he suffered his fatal injuries, law enforcement officials familiar with the matter said.”
- “To date, little information has been shared publicly about the circumstances of the death of the 13-year veteran of the police force, including any findings from an autopsy that was conducted by DC’s medical examiner.”
So far, this details an absence of evidence, which is somewhat disappointing in the circumstances. But then comes the kicker:
According to one law enforcement official, medical examiners did not find signs that the officer sustained any blunt force trauma, so investigators believe that early reports that he was fatally struck by a fire extinguisher are not true.
One possibility being considered by investigators is that Sicknick became ill after interacting with a chemical irritant like pepper spray or bear spray that was deployed in the crowd. But investigators reviewing video of the officer’s time around the Capitol haven’t been able to confirm that in tape that has been recovered so far, the official said.
The case could also be complicated if Sicknick had a preexisting medical condition. It could not be learned if he did.
This report raises significant concerns for me — especially the indication that the autopsy did not find signs that Ofc. Sicknick sustained any blunt force trauma. Again, these are anonymous sources, so we should have some skepticism. On the other hand, the report runs counter to the Legacy Media narrative on the Capitol riot, and given CNN’s bias against President Trump, I am inclined to find these reports more credible.
CNN’s bias, by the way, is indicated by the repeated use of the word “insurrection” to describe the Capitol riot. Notice that my terminology is not biased, or at least I don’t think that it is. If I were playing the Legacy Media’s game, I would call it a “protest” rather than a “riot.”
This is yet another example of the importance of avoiding a rush to judgment. Media reports, and early reports from police authorities, often turn out to be wrong.
I think that it is important that we not jump to conclusions, either based on initial reports or this more recent report from CNN. It may turn out to be the case that Ofc. Sicknick died as a result of injuries sustained in the riots. But perhaps not. This is why autopsies are important, and careful investigation is important.
Wokeism delenda est.
Published in Policing
So the ever-present “five deaths” narrative is down to :
Two heart attacks (at an undetermined time and location?).
One “trampled” (in an undetermined manner?).
Ashli Babbitt.
Officer Sicknick, who was not bludgeoned.
So in other words, they have no idea why he died, have no new information other than speculation, and all of the previous reports were based on rumors and erroneous snap judgements. That sounds about right for the MSM, and exactly mirrors the George Floyd, Kyle Rittenhouse, and election reporting. Glad they’re admitting it for once, but I wish those who put stock in the initial narratives coming from the mouths of these serpents will take note (that includes many Ricochet members) and remember that moving forward.
I can’t confirm any of this, except Ashli Babbitt, as video shows her being shot. You may well be correct.
I can’t even confirm that Ofc. Sicknick was not bludgeoned. We have an anonymous law enforcement official that CNN claims to have told them that medical examiners did not find evidence of blunt force trauma.
What’s interesting to me about these reports is that I watched a lengthy video of Ashli Babbitt being shot. What jumped out at me was how calm everyone was in the room–demonstrators and law enforcement officials alike.
It wasn’t some kind of aggressive battle situation the way the press has made it seem to be.
The people in that room that day could have been my friends and neighbors, just milling around calmly.
It’s been hard to put that together with the image of the day’s events that has been conjured by the mass media.
We should demand they release the entire autopsy for all involved, ala George Floyd, Breoana Taylor etc etc. Until we have the facts I for one will not believe a damn thing about this story.
I was just reading about this over at Ace of Spades. Just another fire drill that has GOP on the defensive about after January
insurrection/riot/unauthorized intrusion.Yet more inconvenient information that leads one to conclude that that whole incident was used (either highjacked or manufactured) as a pretext for a crackdown on Red/Conservative America.
Considering my initial reaction to the George Floyd, I am now waiting until I have an official medical examiners report. Thanks for posting this @arizonapatriot.
Since the officer’s death has been falsely attributed to rioters, I think we should consider the entire impeachment a FALSE FLAG event. It is a key part of the Fascist DNC narrative and it is a lie, so their claim is a FALSE FLAG. We shouldn’t be surprised, since Fascists lie all the time.
I had heard earlier rumors that there was some doubt about the fire extinguisher story; hence I was surprised at the certainty with which Andrew McCarthy had asserted on the Uncommon Knowledge panel discussion that the capitol police officer had been “murdered.”
I read an article that stated the officer was never hit with a fire extinguisher.
Ace of Spades was theorizing that Andy McCarthy was accepting the NYT story at face value, he was actually ripping him for believing it uncritically or at least not amending it-I agree with Ace.
I like Andy McCarthy a lot but he really has this blind spot on the integrity of these bureaucrats.
Don, I think that your conclusions here are also getting ahead of the data. I don’t think that we can conclude that Ofc. Sicknick’s death was falsely attributed to rioters. I think that we should conclude that we don’t yet know, and reserve judgment until we have more facts.
To this day, historians continue to debate who started the Reichstag fire.
What is not debatable is how the Nazis used it to snuff out democracy in Germany.
You’re nuts to think this could ever have been a false-flag event. (There. I did my liberal, unquestioning due diligence.)
There are interesting videos coming out. One that is not particularly germane to this post is a ostensibly part of James Clappers interrogation by an unknown questioner — and to me, if it is real, it is very shocking, and disheartening. And speaks to the underhandedness, murderousness and psychopathy of the upper echelons of the government.
The other is a multi-view (from six different recordings) more or less chronological, narrated, break-down of the Capitol shooting. The video is not conclusive; it presents an alternative and often speculative interpretation of events; including the apparent determination of some few to encourage and direct the crowd to pass through the hallway windows, Babbit’s concentration on looking in the direction of the shooter before climbing into the window, her uniquely poofed-out backpack, the haphazard and oddly-counterintuitive response to the shooting, the apparent shooting of her belly rather than her neck and one of the witnesses saying she was shot in the belly before changing this later on to say she was shot in the neck, her black belly covering that showed when her shirt was pulled up, the paucity of blood, the haphazard to nonexistent work — seemingly unprepared and even negligent — of the “paramedics” that showed up, and emotional (or rather, unemotional) responses from the police and the crowd, and the presence of several actual cameramen in the crowd taking pictures of the event even after the shooting, to my eye the unprofessionalism of her left breast being exposed when being wheeled around outside in public view, and the emotional detachment or inappropriateness (and the convenient bloody hand) of those leaders of the crowd’s when addressing the protesters outside.
But no, it was actually just a spontaneous chaotic unfortunate accident that no one could have foreseen.
Here you go. This is a well-sourced piece patiently explaining the fog around this whole incident, what we know, and what information has been kept from the public.
https://www.revolver.news/2021/02/maga-blood-libel-why-are-they-hiding-the-medical-report/
There is a whole lot of fog around this incident.
See also this Twitter Thread from Matt Walsh:
I think any attempt to link the suicides or the heart attack and stroke to the intrusion is ridiculous. I am sad that those people died. However, there is no real causal link – even if the officers wrote a note blaming the intrusion, it was their choice to pull the trigger. Same with people dying of pre-existing conditions – it is sad, but unrelated.
There would have to be something extraordinary for the those deaths to be viewed as a result of the intrusion.
I think they’re related, but not the way you mean. There have been four mysterious police deaths since since the election, three of them suicide, one unexplained but sensationalized as a death a full day before the victim was made aware that he had died.
Two suicides were police there at the Capitol breach, who are reported to have killed themselves a day or two after the event. One was the Georgia Bureau of Investigation officer who killed himself three days after taking the lead in investigating Harrison Deal’s car explosion in Georgia on Nov. 5; Kemp’s daughter’s boyfriend was killed when another car hit his and exploded; with Kemp reversing his decision on the type of recount to be done afterwards. And this fourth was this third police officer who was present at the Capitol breach, and was well and at work at the police station house when he was supposed to be at the hospital, and was alive when he was suppose to be dead, and then cremated when he was supposed to be autopsied.
See, you just call them “cop-killers.” Doesn’t matter that they killed no cops. Or that no cops were actually killed during this “riot.” The “rioters” didn’t even have any firearms. I mean, I’m not a coup-expert, but it seems that if you’re going to stage a coup, you need some weaponry. The “rioters” did not. They burst into the House and they took some selfies and milled around and stayed within the ropes and sat at Nancy’s desk. While a half-mile away AOC cowered in her bathroom.
So Morning Joe just smears them as “cop-killers” because the whole point is to advance the “coup” narrative.
There are several data points that lead me to the conclusion the guy did not die from a fire extinguisher.
0) The source of the fire extinguisher story seems to be “as seen on Twitter”.
1) Revolver said the coroner report ruled out blunt force trauma.
2) There is fuzziness about where and when the officer died.
3) Revolver said the officer texted his brother in the evening to say he was OK except for some pepper spray.
4) If attacked there would likely be witnesses. That would mean sketches and FBI most wanted posters. After 5 weeks there would be someone arrested. And if someone is arrested, we’d hear all about it.
Without significant new information, the most likely explanation is “natural” death and a fake story spun out by anti-Trump.
I think that if I were on duty at such a highly political event labeled a failed coup, and it was reported widely as part of the narrative that I was killed, I’d be very nervous, and perhaps want to leave the country that night.
Under normal circumstances I would agree 100% with you about waiting for evidence to reserve judgement. In these political cases however, we have seen over and over again that when there is something that is unflattering or harmful to Trump, the info gets leaked like a burst dam. But when the info is exculpatory or flattering to Trump, it gets sealed away like the Gold in Fort Knox.
This pattern has become so predictable that I think we can start using it as hard evidence in court cases (just kidding). Anyway, I’m completely convinced already that Officer Sicknick’s unfortunate death had nothing to do with the protest.
They were brandishing cell phones in Otter cases. Those cases are hard enough to crack a skull wide open, thus the use of lethal force in one instance . . .
I think they arreseted a BLM guy. I didn’t know it was a pro-Trump movement . . .
I wonder what the narrative would be if Ashli Babbitt was black?
This may be the first time in history when bystanders didn’t duck and run for cover, shouting and tripping over each other.
Remember how Joe and his puppet masters initially smeared the Capitol Police by declaring that if it had been a BLM riot, the cops would have shot all the rioters?
It was an insane thing to say given how DC police let BLM burn Washington just a few months earlier. (Not to mention burning cities across the country.) And that the only person shot was a white woman. I think they realized how completely nonsensical that statement was, and they shifted away from it to “These Capitol Police are HEROES!”
The transparently shifting Narrative tells you just how bogus it all is.
Jerry,
I appreciate your always taking the time to analyze controversies honestly and objectively, after researching the evidence. Your patience with rebuttals based on mob behavior, rather than rational thinking is admirable.
Most of us Ricocheteers base our conclusions, absent any evidence, on anonymous rumors we read on the Internet. When you encourage us to wait for evidence, instead of relying on rumors, illogic, and the absence of evidence, we only cite more rumors and illogic as “evidence”. “I read somewhere that…”. “This blog said they heard from some unnamed source that…”.
We almost unanimously fail to understand that an internet article spreading an anonymously acquired rumor is not evidence just because one read it on the Internet.
Are you basically dismissing everything other than the Official Narrative? Because when even CNN can’t find evidence that Sicknick was murdered by those MAGA-heads (and you know they want to), something smells fishy.
I’ll answer for myself. I’m basically dismissing everything including the Official Narrative, at this point. We simply don’t have reliable data about the details.
I do accept two facts: (1) Ofc. Sicknick was at the Capitol at the time of the riot, and (2) he died in the hospital on the following evening. At present, anything other conclusions look like speculation.