The mother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died shortly after the infamous mob riot at the Capitol, told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that he did not die from being struck on the head by a fire extinguisher, further destroying one now-debunked piece of the narrative propelling outrage and investigations into who was in D.C. on Jan. 6.
“We think he had a stroke, but we don’t know anything for sure,” Gladys Sicknick said almost a month after stories about her son being bludgeoned to death by Trump supporters went viral. “We’d love to know what happened.”
Gladys’s confirmation completely undermines the erroneous coverage promoted and propelled by corrupt corporate media institutions about what events occurred during the Jan. 6 chaos.
The most egregious coverage of Sicknick’s death came in the New York Times, which claimed Sicknick was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Both articles published by the Times said the mob killed Sicknick, attributing the claims to “two law enforcement officials” who remained anonymous, although in the correction, the Times says “the initial cause of his death” was “provided by officials close to the Capitol Police,” not officers themselves (emphasis added). Other reports, however, confirm that the officer texted his brother after the riot (during which he reportedly died) and “sounded as if he was in good spirits.”
The Times quietly corrected the allegation almost a month later during the chaos of the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. The first article, now emblazoned with the headline “Capitol Police Officer Dies From Injuries in Pro-Trump Rampage,” is now edited to reflect an “update” pinned to the top explaining that “new information” emerged that “questions the initial cause of his death provided by officials close to the Capitol police.”
There was no apology for the mistake on the Times’ behalf, even though the misinformation narrative it created through the viral story was amplified on social media, by corporate media outlets, and by politicians, pundits, and others.
In President Joe Biden’s statement on the impeachment vote, the White House claimed that Sicknick lost “his life while protecting the Capitol from a violent, riotous mob on January 6, 2021.”
House Democrats also used the false evidence in the impeachment trial, claiming in a memo, “Insurrectionists killed a Capitol police officer by striking him in the head with a fire extinguisher.”
Prominent hosts and anchors at CNN, MSNBC, and other broadcast networks also aired segments claiming Trump supporters bashed Sicknick over the head with a fire extinguisher.
The unverified fire extinguisher narrative published by the Times spread far and wide through outlets such as the BBC, USA Today, the Associated Press, and other news organizations, some of which still have not issued a correction notice or apology for the false reporting. Others still claim the officer sustained injuries even though no autopsy report has been released.
The mother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died one day after the Capitol riots in January, rejected media assertions weaponized by Democrats in their impeachment trial that her son was killed from head trauma by a fire extinguisher.
“He wasn’t hit on the head, no. We think he had a stroke, but we don’t know anything for sure,” Gladys Sicknick told the Daily Mail in an interview published Tuesday. “We’d love to know what happened.”
The false narrative first came from the New York Times, which headlined an article, “Capitol Police Officer Dies From Injuries in Pro-Trump Rampage,” published on Jan. 8, two days after the riot.
“[Pro]-Trump supporters … overpowered Mr. Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher, according to two law enforcement officials,” the paper reported. Democrats repeatedly cited the story and even introduced it into evidence at the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.
Subsequent reporting, however, shed doubt on the paper’s claim, which resulted in only a quiet correction more than a month later — once the Senate impeachment trial began to wrap up.
“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,” an update now reads at the top of the page.
Medical examiners told CNN in a story published on Feb. 2 that they failed to find signs that Officer Sicknick “sustained any blunt force trauma,” let alone by a fire extinguisher. ProPublica cast doubt on the fire extinguisher story much sooner, publishing comments from Sicknick’s brother, Ken, on Jan. 8. Ken said his brother texted the family hours after the attack that he had been pepper-sprayed but was doing fine.
“He texted me last night and said, ‘I got pepper-sprayed twice,’ and he was in good shape,” Ken told ProPublica. “Apparently he collapsed in the Capitol and they resuscitated him using CPR.”
House Democrats, however, still cited false evidence at their impeachment trial that Sicknick was conclusively killed by a blow from a fire extinguisher. They even included the story in a pretrial memo. “Insurrectionists killed a Capitol police officer by striking him in the head with a fire extinguisher,” Democrats wrote.
The Sicknick family, meanwhile, is still awaiting answers regarding the officer’s death.