Two men have been arrested and charged with assaulting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick during the Capitol riot in January with bear spray, but thus far they aren’t being charged with this death:
NBC NEWS – Two people were arrested and charged in connection with the alleged assault of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, but federal authorities stopped short of charging them with his death, law enforcement said Monday.
Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39 of West Virginia, were taken into custody on Sunday and accused of using bear spray during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to criminal complaints.
Sicknick died a day after the riots, and authorities suspect he may have inhaled a spray-type irritant, such as bear spray, during the riot.
Khater and Tanios have been charged with assault, but not for killing Sicknick.
It’s been previously been reported that Officer Sicknick had told his brother, after the riot was over, that he was fine but that he was pepper sprayed twice. At some point aftward Sicknick collapsed in the Capitol and was resuscitated with CPR, and the family was told that he was in the hospital on a ventilator after having had a blood clot and a stroke.
Whether inhaling the bear spray had anything to do with this, I don’t know. And it sounds like police don’t know either because they aren’t charging these two men with Sicknick’s death.
From a quick search on the internet, I read that bear spray is actually less potent than pepper spray made for humans. The former is a deterrent, whereas the latter is made to incapacitate someone in a self-defense encounter.
Whatever the case with Sicknick’s death, I am glad that these two men are being charged with assaulting him. Anyone who assaulted a police officer on that dreadful day should be forced to face the consequences.