The family of a Capitol police officer who died a day after defending the building during the Jan. 6 riot has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Donald Trump and two rioters.
The estate of Brian Sicknick, represented by his long-time partner Sandra Garza, is seeking $10 million in damages from all three defendants in the suit filed in US District Court.
The two rioters named in the suit, Julian Khater and George Tanios, were criminally charged with assaulting Sicknick and other officers with chemical spray.
Sicknick, who was 42, suffered multiple strokes and died in the hospital on Jan. 7. A medical examiner ruled his death to have been a result of natural causes, but later said the violent events a day earlier “played a role in his condition.”
“Former President Donald Trump called Khater and Tanios to Washington DC to attack the Capitol and they answered. This directly caused Officer Sicknick’s death,” estate attorney Matt Kaiser said in a statement.
Khater has pleaded guilty to assaulting police with a dangerous weapon and Tanios — who bought the spray — pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building and disorderly or disruptive conduct in the building.
The lawsuit also alleges that the violence against the officers and Sicknick’s death “were reasonable and foreseeable consequences of Defendant Trump’s words and conduct.”
In addition to wrongful death, the family has accused Trump of violating Sicknick’s civil rights, assault and negligence.
A spokesperson for the former president said Trump “clearly and unequivocally stated that Americans should ‘peacefully and patriotically make their voices hear’” and claimed his calls for peace were censored by “Big Tech companies” in a statement to Fox News.
“President Trump is immune from frivolous attacks and will continue to be fully focused on his mission to Make America Great Again,” the spokesperson added.
The lawsuit was filed a day before the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The Democrat-led House committee investigating the events of that day asked federal prosecutors last month to charge Trump with obstruction and insurrection.
With Post wires
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