Police Officer’s Suicide After Jan. 6 Riot Is Ruled a Line-of-Duty Death

The loss of life of Officer Jeffrey Smith, who killed himself 9 days after confronting a mob on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was the direct results of an harm he sustained in the course of the riot, a retirement board has discovered.

The ruling marks the primary time within the information of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Division — and considered one of only a few occasions throughout the nation — {that a} suicide has been categorized as a line-of-duty loss of life.

The second could also be a tipping level in a campaign to raise long-held taboos towards open dialogue of melancholy, dependancy and suicide in policing, with a number of teams pushing for officers to have larger entry to confidential counseling and different emotional helps.

Their case was bolstered by the occasions of Jan. 6, when the nation watched as officers endured assaults, racist slurs and taunts. The names of Officer Smith and Officer Howard Liebengood, a Capitol Police officer who additionally took his personal life, had been talked about in the identical breath as these of Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after clashing with rioters, and Officer Eugene Goodman, who lured the mob away from the Senate chamber.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and different lawmakers supported the decision for Officers Smith and Liebengood to be granted line-of-duty honors.

However police departments don’t sometimes acknowledge suicide as job-related. By legislation, a federal good thing about $390,000 awarded to the households of fallen cops and firefighters can’t be granted for any loss of life “attributable to the officer’s intention,” a prohibition reiterated in lots of metropolis statutes, together with Washington’s.

The coverage stands in sharp distinction to that of america army, which now treats some 90 p.c of suicides as line-of-duty deaths attributable to post-traumatic stress, mind accidents and different deployment hazards.

The Police and Firefighters Retirement and Reduction Board in Washington discovered this week that the top harm Officer Smith sustained in the course of the riot, which his widow stated had triggered a deep melancholy in her husband, was the “sole and direct trigger” of his loss of life. He shot himself along with his service weapon on the day he had been ordered to return to work.

His widow, Erin Smith, might be entitled to proceed receiving 100% of her husband’s wage, versus the 33 p.c she would have in any other case acquired. She should be barred from receiving the lump-sum federal profit.

The household of Officer Liebengood, who killed himself on Jan. 9 after working three lengthy shifts following the riot, remains to be searching for a line-of-duty loss of life designation from the Labor Division’s Federal Staff’ Compensation Program. They’ve additionally utilized for the lump-sum profit from the Justice Division.

The Capitol Police submitted paperwork final month to help the household’s software, together with details about his actions within the 24 hours earlier than his loss of life.

The Liebengood household has pinned some hopes on a Home invoice that may broaden loss of life and incapacity advantages to cowl suicide and post-traumatic stress dysfunction, until they had been proven to be unrelated to the officer’s job.

The congressional representatives of Officers Liebengood, 51, and Smith, 35, each of whom had been Virginia residents, have pushed for line-of-duty designations.

“We’ll eternally be thankful for his service to guard our Capitol,” Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, stated of Officer Smith in an announcement.

Officer Smith, a 12-year veteran of the division, beloved his patrol beat close to the Washington Mall a lot that he wouldn’t put in for promotion for concern of being transferred.

However after the occasions of Jan. 6, his temper and demeanor utterly modified. He was shaken and despondent over the chaotic occasions of the day and uncharacteristically fast to anger, Ms. Smith stated.

“He was a very totally different particular person,” she instructed The New York Occasions in July. “I do consider if he didn’t go to work that day, he could be right here and we might not be having this dialog.”

After many months, Ms. Smith and her lawyer, David P. Weber, had been in a position to get hold of the video from Officer Smith’s body-worn digital camera, which seems to indicate him being assaulted twice, as soon as within the Capitol constructing and once more exterior, when a steel pole got here flying at him.

A sergeant despatched him to the Police and Hearth Clinic, which handles job-related accidents, the place he was prescribed ibuprofen and despatched dwelling. After a follow-up go to a couple of week later, he was ordered to return to work. It was on the way in which to his shift that he shot himself.

Medical specialists retained by Ms. Smith stated that he had no historical past of melancholy or psychological well being points earlier than Jan. 6, and that his loss of life was attributable to “post-concussion syndrome,” which may result in cognitive issues, melancholy and suicidal ideas.

Luke Broadwater contributed reporting.

If you’re having ideas of suicide, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You’ll find a listing of extra assets at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/assets.