U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick collapsed and was admitted to the hospital after being assaulted with bear spray on Jan. 6. He died soon afterward, and his death became a rallying cry for lawmakers seeking justice for the attack on Congress.
with bear spray, as federal authorities inch closer to identifying what may have caused the officer’s death following the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by a violent mob loyal to former President Donald Trump.
But Sicknick’s cause of death has remained elusive. Capitol Police leaders have refused for weeks to disclose the status of his autopsy other than to classify it as a “line of duty” death. Early news reports that Sicknick was assaulted with a fire extinguisher and suffered blunt force trauma were later revealed to be untrue.
Indeed, the affidavit an FBI agent submitted to obtain warrants to arrest Khater and Tanios says body-worn camera video from a Metropolitan Police lieutenant shows him spraying Khater after Khater unleashed spray on several officers, including Sicknick. Tanios appeared briefly by video from a West Virginia jail at a hearing before a federal magistrate judge in Clarksburg, W. Va. The judge in that case set a bail hearing for Tanios Tuesday morning.
Three officers, including Sicknick, were injured “as a result of being sprayed in the face with an unknown substance” by Khater, according to the charging document.