The investigating officer advises the officer who shot Capitol Rioter Ashli ​​Babbitt

WASHINGTON – Investigators have tentatively determined that the police officer who shot dead Ashli ​​Babbitt during the U.S. Capitol riot should not be charged, according to the people familiar with it.

Me. Babbitt, who had served in the Air Force and the National Guard for more than a dozen years and became a passionate supporter of former President Donald Trump, was shot dead by a Capitol police officer after rioters went through a door to the lobby of the speaker. on January 6th. She entered the building as part of a crowd that wanted to interrupt the certification of President Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

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

The Department of Justice said during the announcement of the investigation that it follows the routine procedure for every time a police officer uses lethal force by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department investigating the shooting. Police investigators initially determined that the charges against the officer were not justified, the people said, adding that Justice Department officials had not yet made a final decision on it. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington is leading the broader investigation into the riot and is pursuing the more than 150 cases that have led so far.

A Justice Department spokesman made no immediate comment Any final indictment will likely have to be approved by senior Justice Department leaders, who have not yet been briefed on the case.

The Proud Boys, a far-right group, tried to downplay their role in the Capitol riot. A WSJ investigation shows that the Proud Boys were in the forefront at many of the most important moments. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann

In assessing such cases, federal prosecutors must not only establish that an officer used excessive force, but also that the officer intentionally violated someone’s constitutional rights. It is a difficult situation to make federal charges against an officer difficult, and legal experts have predicted that such a case in connection with the death of Ms. Babbitt 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 comment at this time.”

The death of me. Babbitt, a 35-year-old San Diego resident, came when a crowd of rioters gathered at the entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby in the Capitol building, hit the glass and urged officers at the scene to step aside, according to several videos of the incident.

According to the video footage, the crowd broke the glass with a helmet and stick. Seconds later, Mrs. Babbitt, who was unarmed, tried to jump through the broken glass and was shot by a Capitol police officer, according to the footage.

Multiple videos of the shooting incident posted on social media showed Babbitt, who apparently wears a Trump flag as a hood, falling out of a breakthrough window after being hit by an officer on the other side of a set of double doors was shot.

The officer, a lieutenant, essentially serves as a potential last line of defense between the rioters and members of Congress, thus giving some justification for his actions and falling short of the standard required to be a police officer of to prosecute a civil rights violation. for a shooting, the people said.

“This is where he drew the line in the sand,” a Capitol police official said, adding that the lieutenant, whose police powers have been suspended, is expected to return to his previous status, although he fears Trump will repay him. supporters.

Capitol Riot: The Aftermath

“Without a doubt, he needs to be cleared,” said a lawyer for the officer, Mark Schamel, of the law firm Lowenstein Sandler. “There is no way to look at the evidence and think he is anything but a hero,” he said.

Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.), Who witnessed the shooting, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month that he was a Capitol police lieutenant in a defensive position in front of the door. see house lobby.

The GOP congressman said he was concerned because there were still lawmakers and presses trapped in the room on the third floor, overlooking the floor.

“I believe they wanted to hurt us,” he said of the mob that knocked on the door. “My thought was, ‘How are we going to handle this one?'”

Then Mr. Mullin said, shooting a gunshot.

“Of course everyone got really excited again,” he said, “but I will tell myself, from my perspective, the lieutenant who did it, I really feel like he saved people’s lives that day.”

The officer then approached him upset, said Mr. Mullin said. He said he hugged the officer and said to him, “Listen, you did what you had to do.”

In the videos, it appears that several police officers are providing first aid to me. Babbitt, who was taken to a hospital and later succumbed to her injuries.

The recommendation not to appoint the officer that Mrs. Babbitt shot, not to charge, is likely to cause controversy. Some right-wing activists used her death as a rally and referred to her as a martyr for their cause, with her image on protest flags and a Telegram account linked to the far-right group, the Proud Boys, who “killed her” call an ‘accident’. of system aggression. ”

The Department of Justice did not want to prosecute officers in a number of other high-profile cases that have developed under different circumstances. It was decided not to file federal civil rights charges against former Ferguson, Mo., police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in 2014, saying prosecutors could not refute the allegations of the officer he fired. because he feared for his safety. This led to widespread protest marches and sparked a national conversation about the use of the police.

In social media profiles in her name, Ms. Babbitt describes as a veteran and libertarian who loved her husband, her big black-and-white dog, “and most of all, my country.” Me. Babbitt’s military service during the war included several deployments to Iraq.

The day before the riot, Ms. Babbitt tweeted: “Nothing will stop us … they can try and try, but the storm is here and it drops to DC within 24 hours … dark to light!”

A man who describes himself as Mrs. Babbitt’s brother identified, reached by telephone and said he could not immediately comment.

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

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