(UnitedHeadlines.com) – On Jan. 2, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed part of a lawsuit related to the death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, 42, filed against former President Donald Trump.
U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta’s 12-page ruling dismissed the wrongful death and two negligence civil counts filed in January 2023 by Sicknick’s girlfriend and the legal representative of his estate, Sandra Garza, against Trump and Jan. 6 defendants Julian Khater George Tanios. The judge ruled that Garza lacked “statutory standing” for a wrongful death claim because she was not his domestic partner or spouse under D.C. law.
The judge also dismissed Trump’s claim of presidential immunity, stating that the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled he does not have immunity from lawsuits related to his actions regarding Jan. 6.
The ruling allows the civil lawsuit and claims filed against Trump under D.C.’s Survival Act, which allows the legal representative of an individual to pursue legal action on their behalf following their death, to proceed. The judge also allowed that part of the lawsuit that alleges Trump, Tanios and Khater engaged in a conspiracy to “violate civil rights.”
Sicknick, who joined the Capitol Police in 2008, was pepper sprayed by Khater and Tanios when he responded to the scene and was rushed to the hospital, where he died from two thromboembolic strokes the following day. Neither Tanios nor Khater was criminally charged with Sicknick’s death as the D.C. medical examiner’s office ruled that he died of “natural causes” after a series of strokes and the events of Jan. 6 played a “role in his condition.”
Khater, who admitted to taking a can of bear spray from Tanios backpack and spraying Sicknick and other officers, received a sentence of more than six years in prison. Tanios received a sentence of time served and one year of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges.
Copyright 2024, UnitedHeadlines.com
