Slain U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was mendacity in honour within the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday night, permitting his colleagues and the lawmakers he protected to pay their respects and to recollect the violent assault on Congress that took his life.
Sicknick died after defending the Capitol on Jan. 6 towards the mob that stormed the constructing and interrupted the electoral depend after then-president Donald Trump urged supporters on the Nationwide Mall to “struggle like hell” to overturn his defeat. The U.S. Capitol Police mentioned in an announcement that Sicknick, who died the following day, was injured “whereas bodily partaking with protesters,” although a ultimate explanation for dying has not but been decided.
The arrival of Sicknick’s stays at 9:30 p.m. ET was solemn, with dozens of Capitol Police standing at consideration as his urn was carried up the Capitol steps.
U.S. President Joe Biden, accompanied by his spouse Jill, paid his respects as soon as Sicknick’s fellow officers filed by.
There’s a viewing interval for Capitol Police in a single day, and lawmakers have been to pay tribute at a ceremony Wednesday morning. A ceremonial departure for Arlington Nationwide Cemetery was deliberate later within the day.
Members of Congress stay shaken by the assault and are grappling with what it means not just for the way forward for the nation, however for their very own safety as elected representatives. Whereas lawmakers have been united in denouncing the riots, and Trump’s position in them, the events are actually largely cut up on tips on how to transfer ahead.
Home Democrats impeached Trump every week after the assault, sending a cost of “incitement of riot” to the Senate, the place Republicans are unlikely to supply the votes essential to convict him. On the similar time, the constructing has been lower off from the general public, surrounded by massive metallic fences and defended by the Nationwide Guard.
Sicknick, 42, of South River, N.J., enlisted within the Nationwide Guard six months after graduating highschool in 1997, then deployed to Saudi Arabia and later Kyrgyzstan. He joined the Capitol Police in 2008. Like many Capitol Law enforcement officials, he usually labored safety within the Capitol itself and was identified to lawmakers, workers and others who handed by way of the constructing’s doorways every morning.
There are nonetheless questions on his dying, which was one in every of 5 because of the rioting. Because the mob compelled its approach in, Sicknick was hit within the head with a fireplace extinguisher, two legislation enforcement officers mentioned. He collapsed afterward, was hospitalized and died. The officers couldn’t focus on the continued investigation publicly and spoke to The Related Press on situation of anonymity.
Investigators are additionally analyzing whether or not he might have ingested a chemical substance throughout the riot which will have contributed to his dying, the officers mentioned.
Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer introduced final week that Sicknick would lie in honour, which is reserved for a choose few. In a joint assertion they mentioned his heroism “helped save lives, defend the temple of our democracy and be certain that the Congress was not diverted from our responsibility to the Structure.”
His sacrifice, they mentioned, “reminds us daily of our obligation to our nation and to the folks we serve.”
‘Extraordinary valour’
Pelosi mentioned in a letter to colleagues on Tuesday that the Capitol Police “demonstrated extraordinary valour” on Jan. 6 and urged members to pay their respects. She has additionally inspired members to make the most of trauma assets out there to congressional workers.
She mentioned defending the Capitol and the lawmakers who work there’s a “highest precedence” and that there will likely be a necessity for more money to take action. In the course of the assault, lots of the insurrectionists referred to as out for members, together with Pelosi. In addition they focused Vice President Mike Pence, who was within the constructing to preside over the electoral depend.
“The insurrectionist assault on January 6 was not solely an assault on the Capitol, however was a traumatic assault focusing on Members,” she mentioned.