WASHINGTON – The United States Capitol police officer who died after being injured in a January 6 attack by pro-Donald Trump rioters will lie in honour at the building’s Rotunda, said lawmakers yesterday, a mark of respect rarely bestowed.
Brian Sicknick was reportedly struck in the head with a fire extinguisher while struggling with the rioters, who swarmed through the halls of Congress.
The 42-year-old member of the force that protects the Congress grounds returned to his division office, where he collapsed and was taken to hospital, said Capitol police.
He died the next day, bringing the death toll from the violent attack to five.
“The US Congress is united in grief, gratitude and solemn appreciation for the service and sacrifice of officer Brian Sicknick,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer in a statement.
Sicknick’s actions “during the violent insurrection against our Capitol helped save lives, defend the temple of our democracy, and ensure that Congress was not diverted from our duty to the constitution”.
“On behalf of the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is our great privilege to pay tribute to officer Sicknick with this lying-in-honour ceremony.”
Only four other people have laid in honour at the Rotunda, according to the House archives website: reverend Billy Graham, civil rights icon Rosa Parks, and two other Capitol police officers, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, killed during a shooting rampage at the building in 1998.
Pelosi earlier ordered flags over the Capitol lowered in Sicknick’s honour.
Four days after the attack, hundreds of off-duty police lined Constitution Avenue here and saluted as a hearse rolled by carrying his body. – AFP, January 30, 2021
