The family of Ashli Babbitt Sues U.S. Capitol Police for $10 Million

The family of Ashli Babbitt—the only person shot during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol—plans to sue the U.S. Capitol Police department, and the officer who shot her, for at least $10 million, their attorney said.

The civil suit will follow a decision by federal prosecutors not to seek criminal charges against a plainclothes police lieutenant whose single shot killed Babbitt, who was unarmed.

Babbitt, a decorated U.S. Air Force Gulf War veteran, was struck in the shoulder while attempting to illegally enter the Speaker’s Lobby, an area near to the House floor, through a smashed window beside a barricaded door. It is unclear whether she heard shouted warnings over the crowd around her before she climbed within view of the lieutenant, who drew his gun and fired. Smartphone video shows Babbitt being struck in the shoulder and falling back onto a patterned marble floor, bleeding. Police quickly summoned medical help and evacuated her on a stretcher. She was pronounced dead at Washington Hospital Center, leaving behind a husband, Aaron, and four younger brothers.

The police lieutenant who shot Babbitt has yet to publicly provide his side of the fatal encounter, and law enforcement officials have not released his name. Terry Roberts, the Babbitt family’s lawyer, said he knows the shooter’s name and is aware of some of his police service record.

Newsweek