Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via AP
- Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was injured on the day of the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
- A medical examiner said Sicknick died of natural causes, but the events contributed to his condition.
- The complaint also names two Capitol rioters, one of whom pepper-sprayed Sicknick.
The partner and estate of a US Capitol police officer who died shortly after the January 6 riot is suing Donald Trump and two rioters in a civil lawsuit that was filed on Thursday.
Damages are being sought by the estate and longtime partner of Officer Brian Sicknick, who was injured in the line of duty at the Capitol building.
He died a day later due to “natural causes” after suffering two strokes, according to the District’s chief medical examiner Francisco Diaz. In an interview with The Washington Post, Diaz said that the events from the day before “transpired played a role in his condition.”
Two men, Julian Khater and George Tanios, were later charged and pled guilty to assaulting Capitol officers, including Sicknick, with a chemical irritant. The civil lawsuit names Khater and Tanios as defendants.
“In his factual proffer, Defendant Tanios admitted to accompanying Defendant Khater to the January 6th rally in D.C. and admitted to purchasing and carrying the bear spray Defendant Khater used on Officer Sicknick,” the suit states.
The lawsuit also names Trump as a defendant, arguing that violence on January 6 was incited through the former president’s rhetoric.
“If it were not for Donald Trump, the coup attempt on January 6th would never have occurred. This lawsuit is designed to further hold him accountable for that day and the events that led to the death of Officer Sicknick,” Mark Zaid, an attorney for Sicknic’s estate, said in a statement to Insider.
The suit seeks at least $10,000,000 in damages from each defendant. Any money received through the complaint will be donated to charity, Zaid said.
“Although civil lawsuits by their nature are for monetary remedies that does not mean that is the ultimate objective,” Zaid told Insider. “Therefore, when accountability is achieved by Officer Sicknick’s estate the recovery will be donated to charity.”
Attorneys for Tanios and Khater did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
