A Capitol police officer who was injured during the riot at the U.S. Capitol said Thursday night with a brain injury on life support, his family said.
CNN and a local TV station reported that the officer was dead, but Capitol police later said it was inaccurate.
And the officer’s family told The Daily Beast that the last they heard was that he was on a ventilator with a blood clot on his brain and that ‘it did not look good’.
If he did not survive, he would be the fifth death linked to the uprising. One woman was shot by police to break into the living room, and three others died as a result of ‘medical emergencies’.
The officer is a former Air National Guardsman who served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Enduring Freedom before joining the police force, a family member said. The family drove from New Jersey to the hospital.
The Daily Beast does not disclose the officer’s name, and Capitol police have not identified him.
Authorities did identify four individuals who died, including a sales representative in Alabama who tweeted COVID-19 drug beatings and a woman from Georgia who was allegedly crushed in the crowd.
Benjamin Philips, 50, of Pennsylvania; Kevin Greeson, 55, of Alabama; and Rosanne Boyland, 34, of Georgia, died Wednesday after suffering “medical emergencies” while “on the Capitol grounds,” police chief Robert Contee said.
Ashli Babbitt, 35, was fatally shot dead by a police officer after climbing through a broken window and trying to enter the living room. More than 50 Capitol and DC police officers were injured during the riot when Congress met to confirm the victory of Joe Biden in Electoral College, including several who were hospitalized. All four deaths are being investigated.
Although authorities did not provide details about the medical emergencies, Greeson’s son said his father died of a heart attack during a protest. According to one report, Boyland died after being crushed by the crowd while Philips had a stroke, fellow protesters said.
“My father had a heart attack yesterday and died sadly,” Kyler Greeson said in a statement. “We all loved him so much. He made me the man I am today. Always go … to car shows to support me and to enjoy the cars together. Me, him and my brother, would have ridden with motorcycles and had a good time. He was such a wonderful man, we all miss you so much. Keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. ‘
The New York Times Greeson reportedly collapsed while talking to his wife by telephone among a crowd of fellow supporters on the west side of the Capitol building. Emergency personnel rushed to help the father of five and began doing chest compressions – but could not revive him, the report said.
His wife, Kristie Greeson, told the Times her husband – who suffered from high blood pressure – was excited to attend the Trump rally because he believes the presidential election was stolen.
“He felt it was a monumental event in his mind,” she said. Her husband left their home on Tuesday to spend the night with a friend in Virginia. “I did not want him to leave. I did not feel it was safe. ”
Greeson’s wife also noted that her husband was a “political junkie” who “saw the good and the bad in Trump.” His social media accounts confirmed his affinity with the president.
In a tweet dated July 28, Greeson falsely claims, “Hydroxychloroquine sink and z-pac works to cure you from Covid-19” before adding, “Trump 2020 … Twitter sucks!” (There is no conclusive evidence that citromax and azithromycin, used to treat various infections, and hydroxychloroquine, used to treat or prevent malaria, can cure COVID-19.)
Greeson has only posted on Twitter six times since joining in 2019. While most tweets support Trump’s 2020 campaign, the 55-year-old is also called former Ohio Gov. John Kasich – an outspoken critic of Trump – is an ‘idiot’.
According to his LinkedIn, Greeson has been a senior sales representative at Allied Mineral Products in Athens for the past five months and has had more than 20 years of experience in ‘safety management and sales management’. He previously worked at Goodyear Textile Mill for 21 years until 2006 as safety coordinator.
Without confirming Boyland’s name, police said according to Axios that a woman among the crowd had died at the Capitol.
In an interview with News 11 live, one of Boyland’s sisters describes her as a “really happy, wonderful person” and shares a photo of her smiling with a tattoo across her chest that says, “Nice disaster.”
The resident of Kennesaw, Georgia, had a series of lawsuits. According to court records, she pleaded guilty to charges of heroin and cocaine as well as receiving stolen goods in 2011. Boyland was also charged with possession or distribution of heroin at least four other times in Fulton and Cobb counties, in addition to battery charges, obstruction of law enforcement, and transgression over the years.
On her Facebook account, Boyland shared reports from far-right activist group Project Veritas and videos of Trump’s rallies. In one post, she shared conspiracy theories against anti-vaxxer and coronavirus. “I understand that Covid can be deadly or very dangerous to some people, but also peanuts, strawberries and shellfish,” the report says.
In another report shared on January 3, Boyland falsely stated that all hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and convenience stores in DC would be closed until mid-January to prevent Trump supporters from converging the city.
“For all the Patriots who are on their way to DC, bring EXTRA food, water, blankets, supplies and book a place to sleep. Patriots are not going to DC, please will repeat this information, ‘reads the report.
Philips, a computer programmer in Pennsylvania, died of a stroke, hours after riding a white van to the protest and coordinating transportation for several of his Trump supporters. Philadelphia investigator.
According to the Inquiries, he said before the protest: ‘It seems like the first day of the rest of our lives, to be honest … They have to name a name this year because something’s going to happen.’
According to a LinkedIn corresponding to his name, Philips was the founder of TRUMPAROO.com, a website that has now disappeared for MAGA fans, and earned a degree in computer science from Temple University. He has the Inquiries earlier this week that he named the site after a stuffed kangaroo he made, with orange hair and red, white and blue boxing gloves – and which was meant to look like Trump.
Gordy Smith, a protester who traveled to DC with Philips, said he started calling Philips when the 50-year-old did not show up at the group’s meeting post at 6pm to return home. Eventually, Smith joined the Inquiries, a police officer picked up the phone and said he had a stroke and died at George Washington University Hospital.
“Everyone was shocked,” Smith said. “It was a very gloomy ride home.”
Babbitt, a resident of Ocean Beach, California, and a 14-year veteran of the Air Force, posted the violent QAnon conspiracy theory and was relentless in her support of the president. In total, she sent 21 tweets referring to the QAnon slogan, which begins in February 2020. She also apparently embraced conspiracy theories that hospitals claim to be fake coronavirus patients.
Her husband, Aaron Babbitt, told KUSI he did not travel with her to DC and had to pick her up from the airport on Friday.
“Ashli was both loyal and very passionate about what she believed in,” Justin Jackson, Babbitt’s brother-in-law, told KNSD-TV. “She loved this country and feels honored to have served in our army.”