Jury orders guy to pay $500,000 for assaulting D.C. police officer who died via suicide after Capitol insurrection via NewsFlicks

A federal jury on Monday awarded $500,000 to the widow and property of a police officer who died via suicide 9 days after he helped protect the U.S. Capitol from a mob of rioters, together with a person who scuffled with the officer throughout the assault.

The eight-member jury ordered that guy, 69-year-old chiropractor David Partitions-Kaufman, to pay $380,000 in punitive damages and $60,000 in compensatory damages to Erin Smith for assaulting her husband, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, within the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They awarded an extra $60,000 to compensate Jeffrey Smith’s property for his ache and struggling.

The pass judgement on presiding over the civil trial brushed aside Erin Smith’s wrongful-death declare in opposition to Partitions-Kaufman sooner than jurors started deliberating closing week. U.S. District Pass judgement on Ana Reyes stated no affordable juror may conclude that Partitions-Kaufman’s movements have been able to inflicting a annoying mind damage resulting in Smith’s dying.

Partitions-Kaufman, who lived a couple of blocks from the Capitol, denied assaulting Smith. He says any accidents that the officer suffered on Jan. 6 happened later within the day, when some other rioter threw a pole that struck Smith round his head.

On Friday, the jury sided with Erin Smith and held Partitions-Kaufman accountable for assaulting her 35-year-old husband — an come across captured at the officer’s frame digital camera.

“Erin is thankful to obtain some measure of justice,” stated David P. Weber, considered one of her legal professionals.

Partitions-Kaufman stated the result of the trial is “completely ridiculous.”

“No crime took place. I by no means struck the officer. I by no means meant to strike the officer,” he stated. “I am simply surprised.”

After the jury left the court docket, Reyes inspired the events to confer and speak about a conceivable agreement to steer clear of the time and expense of an attraction and for the sake of “finality.”

“You guys settle, you’ll be able to transfer on along with your lives,” the pass judgement on stated.

Partitions-Kaufman’s lawyer, Hughie Hunt, described the jury’s award as “stunning.”

“We are speaking a few three-second tournament,” he informed the pass judgement on.

“It isn’t stunning, Mr. Hunt. Numerous issues can occur in 3 seconds,” Reyes spoke back.

Jeffrey Smith used to be riding to paintings for the primary time after the Capitol insurrection when he shot himself along with his provider weapon. His circle of relatives stated he had no historical past of psychological well being issues sooner than the Jan. 6 insurrection. Erin Smith claims Partitions-Kaufman struck her husband within the head along with his personal police baton, giving him a concussion and inflicting mental and bodily trauma that resulted in his suicide.

Frame digital camera photos received via CBS Information seems to turn that Jeffrey Smith used to be the objective of more than one attacks on Jan. 6, at least one time within the Capitol and however a couple of hours later — outdoor on the west entrance of the Capitol. The photographs of the assault have been pivotal to Erin Smith’s efforts to modify the designation of her husband’s dying.

“I believe the bodily assault on him modified him,” Erin Smith informed CBS Information in 2022. “If he did not move to paintings that day, he’d nonetheless be right here.”  

The police division medically evaluated Smith and cleared him to go back to complete obligation sooner than he died via suicide. In 2022, the District of Columbia Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Aid Board decided that Smith used to be injured within the line of obligation and the damage used to be the “sole and direct explanation for his dying,” in keeping with the lawsuit.

Partitions-Kaufman served a 60-day jail sentence after pleading responsible to a Capitol riot-related misdemeanor in January 2023, however he used to be pardoned in January. On his first day again within the White Space, President Donald Trump pardoned, commuted jail sentences or ordered the dismissal of circumstances for the entire just about 1,600 other folks charged within the assault.

Greater than 100 law-enforcement officials have been injured throughout the insurrection. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick collapsed and died an afternoon after enticing with the rioters. A scientific examiner later decided he suffered a stroke and died of herbal reasons. Howard Liebengood, a Capitol police officer who answered to the insurrection, additionally died via suicide after the assault.

Erin Smith’s quest is not over. She carried out for the Nationwide Regulation Enforcement Memorial so as to add her husband’s identify as a line-of-duty dying. Weber stated they are hoping for a call quickly.

For those who or anyone you understand is in emotional misery or suicidal disaster, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

For more info about psychological well being care assets and improve, The Nationwide Alliance on Psychological Sickness (NAMI) HelpLine will also be reached Monday thru Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or e-mail data@nami.org.