

Within a day, left-rated media widely reported that federal prosecutors were opening a murder investigation into Sicknick’s death. It included interviews with Sicknick’s family, who said he “texted them Wednesday night to say that while he had been pepper-sprayed, he was in good spirits.”īut the New York Times story about the fire extinguisher and life support took off. 8, the same day as the Times story, that suggested a different course of events. ProPublica (Lean Left bias) published a much less viral story on Jan. To date, no other sources have confirmed the original account published by the Times on Jan. On Feb 12, the New York Times added a brief note to the top of this story, describing “new information” that “questions” the details originally provided to the Times. Sicknick was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support. Sicknick, 42, according to two law enforcement officials. 6, “pro-Trump rioters attacked that citadel of democracy and overpowered Mr. The New York Times story described how anonymous law enforcement officials said that on Jan. 6 mob “killed a police officer” - a falsehood that very few mainstream fact-checkers addressed. As recently as June, President Joe Biden repeated the claim that the Jan.
#Cop beat with fire extinguisher trial
2 trial memorandum to advance their attempt to impeach Trump. House Democrats cited the New York Times report in their Feb. 8 under the headline: “He Dreamed of Being a Police Officer, Then He Was Killed by a Pro-Trump Mob.” The narrative that Sicknick was beaten to death went viral when the New York Times published an anonymously-sourced story on Jan. Capitol Police reacted to the medical examiner’s report, saying it “does not change the fact Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol.” It wasn’t until April that the medical examiner’s report on Sicknick’s death seemed to clear up some confusion about the official narrative. There is video appearing to show Sicknick reacting after being sprayed, but there is no evidence that the chemicals contributed to his death. Prosecutors claimed the pair sprayed Sicknick with chemicals. were arrested in March and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, conspiring to injure officers and assaulting federal officers, including Sicknick. Two men - Julian Elie Khater, 32, of State College, Pa., and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, W.Va. Capitol, against the violent mob who stormed it on Jan 6." The official narrative on Sicknick’s death from law enforcement officials has evolved significantly, but remains somewhat unclear.Ĭapitol Police at first said Sicknick died from injuries sustained “while on-duty” and “while physically engaging with protesters.” A day later, acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said Sicknick succumbed to injuries "he suffered defending the U.S.

Meanwhile, few corrections were made to previous stories that the report contradicted. The examiner’s report was highly anticipated and was followed by a wave of coverage that differed drastically from earlier coverage. Diaz added that “all that transpired” on Jan. He didn’t comment on whether Sicknick had any pre-existing conditions, in the interest of privacy. His official cause of death is listed as "acute brainstem and cerebellar infarcts due to acute basilar artery thrombosis."ĭiaz didn't note any evidence that Sicknick had an allergic reaction to chemical spray, or that he was suffering from internal or external injuries of any kind. 7 of natural causes associated with two strokes. chief medical examiner Francisco Diaz announced that Sicknick died at roughly 9:30 p.m. 6 committee hearings, and was repeated by President Joe Biden months later. Despite the lack of evidence, the claim showed up in Trump’s impeachment proceedings and the House’s Jan.

Still, running off premature reporting and inconsistent statements from officials, some media outlets, such as MSNBC (Left) and CNN (Left), continually reported that rioters bludgeoned Officer Sicknick to death with a fire extinguisher. But no evidence that Sicknick was beaten ever emerged. When Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, 42, collapsed and died the day after responding to the riot, rumors that the mob beat him to death received so much attention that the Justice Department, FBI and Washington police opened homicide investigations. 6 is false, and was based on vague and conflicting statements from law enforcement and questionable reporting from major news sources, which largely stemmed from a New York Times (Lean Left bias) report. The claim that a pro-Trump mob murdered a Capitol Police officer on Jan.
#Cop beat with fire extinguisher series
This is the third installment of our series on 2021’s Major Facts and Media Myths. Illustration by Joseph Ratliff Images from JumpStory and Wikimedia Commons
