Officer Brian Sicknick died of a stroke caused by a blood clot in the artery to his brain, according to the medical examiner’s report.
The United States Capital Medical Examiner has ruled that Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was sprayed with a chemical during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, died a day later of natural causes after suffering two strokes.
In a report released Monday in Washington, DC, the medical examiner’s office said Sicknick died of a stroke caused by blood clots at the base of his brain.
The official cause of death was “acute infarctions of the brainstem and cerebellum due to arterial thrombosis”.
The coroner’s report said Sicknick was sprayed with a chemical outside the U.S. Capitol on the afternoon of January 6, as hundreds of rioters sought to invade the building.
The 42-year-old collapsed several hours later and was taken to a local hospital, where he died the following night.
U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors accused two men, Julian Khater and George Tanios, assaulted with deadly weapon, after investigators said they sprayed at least three officers, including Sicknick, with a strong chemical agent, possibly bear spray.
The DC medical examiner’s report means that Sicknick’s death was caused by illness, not other factors such as injury, and is neither homicide nor the result of an accident. The autopsy found no evidence that Sicknick suffered from an allergic reaction.
Sicknick was among hundreds of police tenders who fought rioters seeking to invade the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
“Everything that happened played a role in his condition,” DC Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Francisco Diaz told The Washington Post.
Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Rosen said in a Jan.8 statement, after it appeared that Sicknick had died from injuries sustained in the riot, that the Justice Department “would spare no effort. resource to investigate and hold officials accountable ”.
The DC medical examiner’s decision now makes it very difficult for federal prosecutors to lay murder charges against the two men arrested and charged with assaulting Sicknick and other agents during the riot.
Sicknick’s remains honored in February in the Capitol Rotunda, where lawmakers and President Joe Biden paid tribute.
