Source:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9275449/Mom-Capitol-police-officer-Brian-Sicknick-believes-died-stroke.html
"The mother of the US Capitol police officer who died following the riot on January 6 believes that her son succumbed to a fatal stroke - that he was not bludgeoned to death by a fire extinguisher as reported.
... more than one month after Officer Brian Sicknick's death on January 7, she has admitted that they are still in the dark as to what exactly caused that catastrophic episode.
... Gladys Sicknick ... was unequivocal in her assertion that Officer Brian Sicknick was not struck on the head and that as far as the family knows her son had a fatal stroke.
She said, ‘He wasn’t hit on the head no. We think he had a stroke, but we don’t know anything for sure. ‘We’d love to know what happened.'
... while politicians have grandstanded and rushed to judgment no one has yet given the family the answers they need.
... in the six weeks since his death the truth has taken a backseat to the myth of the brutal attack.
Democratic Impeachment Managers even brazenly cited ... that he was stricken in the head by a fire extinguisher - as fact in pre-trial articles filed February 2 despite already growing doubts.
... US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, 42, died on January 7, one day after he was pepper sprayed while trying to defend the Capitol building from violent protesters
... The official statement was measured and vague as to the cause.
Capitol Police are yet to confirm Sicknick's official cause of death and have only said he died from 'injuries sustained while on duty'
...‘Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters.
He returned to his division office and collapsed.
He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.’
Yet despite this statement issued on January 7 the following day on January 8 The New York Times were reporting that, ‘…pro-Trump supporters…overpowered Mr Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher according to two law enforcement officials. With a bloody gash in his head, Mr Sicknick was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support.’
... In fact, the very day that The New York Times account ran, Sicknick’s own brother, Ken, spoke with ProPublica and said that his brother had been in good spirits -- ‘He texted me last night and said, “I got pepper-sprayed twice,” and he was in good shape.’
... Sicknick's father told Reuters that his son had been placed on a ventilator upon his arrival at the hospital
That same day, January 8, Sicknick’s father, Charles, 81, told Reuters that on January 7, as they rushed from their homes in New Jersey to DC, the family were told that Sicknick had a blood clot on his brain and had suffered a stroke.
He was being kept alive on a ventilator but was dead by the time they got there.
Yet these few publicly available facts were bulldozed over by political fervor and it was the unattributed account of a brutal attack, also reported by the Associated Press, that gained traction.
Less than 24 hours after his death, with no autopsy, no confirmation of any sign of blunt trauma, no investigation nor due process, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for the ‘perpetrators’ of Sicknick’s ‘attack’ to be brought to justice and vowed, ‘We will not forget.’
Despite the family’s earnest desire to the contrary, Sicknick’s death was politicized and seized on as an exemplar of all of the savagery of the pro-Trump mob’s assault on the temple of American democracy.
US Capitol Police issue a statement describing reports of the death as ‘not accurate’ but that an officer is on life support.
(only the) The New York Times publishes its story claiming that pro-Trump supporters, ‘overpowered’ Sicknick and ‘struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher.’
... Sicknick’s father, Charles, 81, tells Reuters his son was resuscitated twice on the way to the hospital.
He says, ‘He had a blood clot on his brain and had a stroke…operating was not an option.’
Retired Philadelphia firefighter Robert Sandford is identified as the rioter who threw the fire extinguisher.
His charges include assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct, civil disorder and unlawful entry of the Capitol.
February 2
CNN report that investigators are ‘vexed’ by a lack of evidence and that medical examiners have found no sign of blunt force trauma.
Democratic House Impeachment Managers file their pre-trial brief and state as fact, ‘The insurrectionists killed a Capitol police officer by striking him on the head with a fire extinguisher.’
February 3
Officer Sicknick is honored in the Capitol Rotunda by dignitaries including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
February 11
Investigators consider whether an adverse reaction to bear spray may have contributed to Sicknick’s death
February 16
The New York Times updates its January 8 report stating, ‘New information has emerged regarding the death of the Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick that questions the initial cause of his death provided by officials close to the Capitol Police.'
February 17
Officer Sicknick’s mother tells DailyMail.com her son was not killed by a blow to the head but died of a stroke.
The Medical Examiner has yet to release a cause of death.
... Last week, long after the first doubts were cast, the New York Times quietly rowed back their first reports stating, ‘new information has emerged regarding the death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick that questions the initial cause of his death provided by officials close to the Capitol Police.’
Today, more than a month after his death, the Medical Examiner has yet to return a cause of death and the FBI and federal prosecutors are struggling to put together a murder case.
... rioters reported seeing cops sprayed with their own pepper spray amid the confusion and Sicknick told his brother he had been sprayed twice by pepper spray."
