

You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 80 and online chat is also available. Trump was impeached, for an unprecedented second time, on the charge of inciting the insurrection, and acquitted in February by the Senate.Īlmost 600 people have been criminally charged for their part in the events. That attempt failed and Biden’s victory was successfully certified by Congress in the early hours of the following morning.īut the attack on the Capitol, which lasted several hours, involved rioters assaulting outnumbered officers to break into the building in a failed effort to hunt down lawmakers, including the then vice president, Mike Pence. You can find a list of additional resources at /resources.The announcement of the deaths of DeFreytag and Hashida came a week after several officers testified to a House of Representatives select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection, when extremists stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s win over Trump in the 2020 presidential election. If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-80 (TALK). 6, and that his death was caused by “post-concussion syndrome,” which can lead to cognitive problems, depression and suicidal thoughts. Smith said that he had no history of depression or mental health issues before Jan. It was on the way to his shift that he shot himself. After a follow-up visit about a week later, he was ordered to return to work. Weber, were able to obtain the video from Officer Smith’s body-worn camera, which appears to show him being assaulted twice, once in the Capitol building and again outside, when a metal pole came flying at him.Ī sergeant sent him to the Police and Fire Clinic, which handles job-related injuries, where he was prescribed ibuprofen and sent home. The congressional representatives of Officers Liebengood, 51, and Smith, 35, both of whom were Virginia residents, have pushed for line-of-duty designations.Īfter many months, Ms. The Liebengood family has pinned some hopes on a House bill that would expand death and disability benefits to cover suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder, unless they were shown to be unrelated to the officer’s job.

The Capitol Police submitted paperwork last month to assist the family’s application, including information about his activities in the 24 hours before his death. They have also applied for the lump-sum benefit from the Justice Department. 9 after working three long shifts following the riot, is still seeking a line-of-duty death designation from the Labor Department’s Federal Employees’ Compensation Program. The family of Officer Liebengood, who killed himself on Jan. She may still be barred from receiving the lump-sum federal benefit. His widow, Erin Smith, will be entitled to continue receiving 100 percent of her husband’s salary, as opposed to the 33 percent she would have otherwise received. The names of Officer Smith and Officer Howard Liebengood, a Capitol Police officer who also took his own life, were mentioned in the same breath as those of Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after clashing with rioters, and Officer Eugene Goodman, who lured the mob away from the Senate chamber. 6, when the nation watched as officers endured assaults, racist slurs and taunts. Their case was bolstered by the events of Jan. The moment may be a tipping point in a crusade to lift long-held taboos against open discussion of depression, addiction and suicide in policing, with several groups pushing for officers to have greater access to confidential counseling and other emotional supports. The ruling marks the first time in the records of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department - and one of very few times across the country - that a suicide has been classified as a line-of-duty death. 6, 2021, was the direct result of an injury he sustained during the riot, a retirement board has found. The death of Officer Jeffrey Smith, who killed himself nine days after confronting a mob at the U.S.
