Officer who shot the Capitol. Rioter Ashli ​​Babbitt should not be charged, investigators advise

The police officer who shot her was put on leave shortly after the riot, while Mrs. Babbitt’s death was being investigated, including the question of whether it was a violation of her civil rights.

The Justice Department said in announcing the investigation that it was following a routine procedure whenever a police officer uses lethal force when making the Washington Metropolitan Police Department examine the shooting. Police investigators initially determined that the charges against the police officer were not justified, people said, adding that Justice Department officials have yet to make a final decision on the matter. The United States attorney’s office in Washington is leading a broader investigation into the riot and prosecuting the more than 150 cases that have emerged to date.

A Justice Department spokeswoman did not immediately comment. Any final billing decision would likely have to be approved by the senior Justice Department leadership, who has not yet been briefed on the matter.

In assessing these cases, federal prosecutors must establish not only that a police officer used excessive force, but also that the policeman deliberately violated someone’s constitutional rights. This requirement makes it difficult to initiate federal charges against a police officer, and legal experts predicted that any case related to Babbitt’s death was unlikely.

A Capitol Police spokeswoman declined to comment on what she called “an ongoing investigation.” A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “It would be premature to make a comment at this point.”

The death of Mrs. Babbitt, a 35-year-old San Diego resident, came when a crowd of protesters gathered outside the Speaker Lobby door in the Capitol building, knocking on the glass and urging police on the scene to move away, according to with several videos of the incident.

The crowd broke the glass with a helmet and a stick, according to video footage. Seconds later, Babbitt, who was unarmed, tried to jump through the broken glass and was shot by a Capitol policeman from inside the door, according to the footage.

Several videos of the shooting posted on social media showed Babbitt, who appears to be wearing a Trump flag as a cover, falling from a broken window after being shot by a policeman on the other side of a double door.

The police officer, a lieutenant, was essentially serving as a potential last line of defense between troublemakers and members of Congress, thus providing some justification for his actions and falling far short of the standard required to accuse a police officer of violating civil rights. for a shootout, people said.

“That’s where he drew the line,” said a fellow Capitol police officer, adding that the lieutenant, whose police powers have been suspended, must return to his previous status, although he is afraid of being retaliated by Trump supporters.

Representative Markwayne Mullin (R., Oklahoma), who witnessed the shooting, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month that he saw a Capitol Police lieutenant in a defensive position outside the doors of the House lobby.

The Republican Congressman said he was alarmed because lawmakers and the press were still stranded on the third-floor balcony inside the chamber, overlooking the floor.

“I believe they wanted to hurt us,” he said of the crowd that was knocking on the door. “My thought was, ‘How are we going to deal with this?'”

Then, said Mullin, a shot was fired.

“Of course, everyone was really excited again,” he said, “but I’m going to tell you, from my perspective, the lieutenant who did this, I really feel like he saved some people’s lives that day.”

The officer later approached him, disturbed, Mullin said. He said he hugged the policeman and said, “Listen, you did what you had to do.”

In the videos, several police officers appear to provide first aid to Mrs. Babbitt, who was taken to a hospital and later died of her injuries.

The recommendation not to accuse the police officer who shot Babbitt is likely to be controversial. Some far-right activists used her death as a rallying cry and referred to her as a martyr for her sake, with her image appearing on protest flags and a Telegram account linked to the far-right group the Proud Boys calling her of a “victim of aggression to the system. “

The Justice Department has refused to prosecute police officers in several other important cases that have developed under different circumstances. She decided not to sue federal civil rights against former Ferguson, Missouri, a police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in 2014, saying prosecutors could not refute the policeman’s claims that he shot because he feared for his safety. . This sparked widespread protests and sparked a national debate about the use of force by the police.

On social media profiles in her name, Ms. Babbitt is described as a veteran and libertarian who loved her husband, her big black and white dog “and, above all, my country”. Ms. Babbitt’s military service included several displacements to Iraq during the war.

The day before the riot, Mrs. Babbitt tweeted: “Nothing is going to stop us … they can try and try and try, but the storm is here and is falling on DC in less than 24 hours … from darkness to light ! ”

A man who identified himself as Babbitt’s brother, contacted by phone, said he could not comment immediately.

—Lindsay Wise contributed to this article.

Write to Aruna Viswanatha at [email protected], Sadie Gurman at [email protected] and Tawnell D. Hobbs at [email protected]