WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal prosecutors will not charge a police officer who shot a woman dead as she climbed through the broken part of a door during the January 6 uprising on the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Wednesday. .
Authorities have been pondering for months whether criminal charges are appropriate for the Capitol police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year veteran of the San Diego Air Force. The department’s decisionalthough expected, it officially concludes the investigation.
Prosecutors said they checked the video of the shooting, along with statements from the officer involved and other officers and witnesses, examined physical evidence of the scene and reviewed the autopsy results.
“Based on the investigation, officials determined that there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution,” the department said in a statement.
In the online video footage, Babbitt is wearing a star and striped backpack. He steps up and starts walking through the waist opening of an area of the Capitol, known as the lobby of the speaker, when a gunshot is heard. She falls backwards. Another video shows other strangers trying to uplift Babbitt. She can be seen sinking back to the ground.
Mark Schamel, a lawyer for the officer, a lieutenant whose name was not released by the Justice Department, said the decision not to file charges was ‘the only correct conclusion’ and that his client ‘saved the lives of many members of Congress’. and the rioters. ”
Prosecutors said Babbitt was part of the mob trying to get into the house as Capitol police officers evacuated members of Congress from the room. Officers used the furniture to block the glass doors separating the hallway from the Speaker’s Lobby to ward off the rioters, who kept trying to break through the doors and smash the glass with flagpoles, helmets and other objects.
At the same time, Babbitt tried to climb through one of the doors where the glass was broken. A Capitol police officer in the speaker’s lobby then fired a single round of his service weapon and hit Babbitt in the shoulder, prosecutors said.
Schamel pointed out that the officer fired only one shot and did so only after “clearly identifying himself and ordering the crowd not to get through the barrier.”
“He used tremendous self-control by firing only one shot, and his actions prevented the mob from breaking through and making an awful day in American history so much worse,” Schamel said.
She fell to the ground before a political tactical team stormed the area and provided first aid. Babbitt was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Babbitt is one of five people killed in the riots, including a police officer. Three other people died in medical emergencies.
The Department of Justice does not bring criminal charges in most police shootings that partially investigate it, due to the high burden of prosecution. Criminal charges were not expected in this case, as videos of the shooting show Babbitt breaking into a forbidden space, and guessing the actions of an officer during the violent and chaotic day would have been a challenge.
“The investigation specifically did not reveal any evidence to establish that the officer at the time fired a single shot at me. “Babbitt did not fire, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary in self-defense or in defense of the members of Congress and others who were evacuating the House,” prosecutors said.