Althouse: "The ruling marks the first time in the records of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department — and one of very few times across the country — that a suicide has been classified as a line-of-duty death."

March 11, 2022

"The ruling marks the first time in the records of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department — and one of very few times across the country — that a suicide has been classified as a line-of-duty death."

"The moment may be a tipping point in a crusade to lift long-held taboos against open discussion of depression, addiction and suicide in policing, with several groups pushing for officers to have greater access to confidential counseling and other emotional supports."

From "Police Officer’s Suicide After Jan. 6 Riot Is Ruled a Line-of-Duty Death/'If he did not go to work that day, he would be here,' said the widow of Officer Jeffrey Smith of the Metropolitan Police" (NYT).

63 comments:

Rusty said...: That's so the widow gets the pension. Although the left is going to spin it into murder for their political purposes. Because, as we all know, the dead always speak for the left.; 3/11/22, 7:56 AM
Achilles said...: With Joe Biden's war in Ukraine winding down they need another lie to attack their real enemies with.

This police officer was probably about to tell the media what the orders were that day.

I don't think he killed himself.; 3/11/22, 8:07 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: What benefits does the family receive if the police officer committed suicide?

What benefits does the family receive if the death happened in the line of duty?; 3/11/22, 8:07 AM
gilbar said...: serious question: was he one of the cops, that beat that unconscious woman to death?
is that why he committed suicide? because he was a Murder?; 3/11/22, 8:10 AM
JK Brown said...: Seems to me, even if we assume the worst said about January 6th, that that was what he was trained for and should have been prepared even mentally. After all, while there was violence, the only killings were by police against individual who were not an imminent threat at the time of their killing.

On the other hand, if orders had come down, those could have created psychic distress in an officer by destroying their illusions and faith in their leadership. As well as the idea that the cops are the good guys.; 3/11/22, 8:10 AM
iowan2 said...: I have no physiological training.

I take exception to the idea that a person that commits suicide, would have refrained, but for a single preceding event.
There is always a preceding event, we just can't know. If not that, then the next thing, maybe inconsequential to us, but not the person suffering. This does nothing but harm those closest to the Deceased, for they alway "believe" if only they had done something. This reinforces that stigma.

Science has not wrapped itself in glory lately.; 3/11/22, 8:11 AM
Bob Boyd said...: the dead always speak for the left

They tend to vote that way too.; 3/11/22, 8:14 AM
rehajm said...: Yah there's the pension thing but it's mostly so leftie politicians can continue to call it a death by insurrectionists.; 3/11/22, 8:15 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: This more about trying to bolster the Jan. 6 "insurrection" legend than it is about any tipping point.; 3/11/22, 8:26 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: How do we know he wasn't killed because he was a Trump supporter?; 3/11/22, 8:29 AM
rrsafety said...: If a cop committed suicide after a BLM riot there is zero chance this would be done.; 3/11/22, 8:29 AM
~ Gordon Pasha said...: Fails the “but for” test of causation.; 3/11/22, 8:29 AM
Earnest Prole said...: Wait, I thought abolishing police was a good thing.; 3/11/22, 8:30 AM
Maynard said...: How many Capitol and/or Metro cops have committed suicide after the Jan. 6 event?

If I recall correctly, the number is 6. Doesn't that raise suspicion?; 3/11/22, 8:36 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: "serious question: was he one of the cops that beat that unconscious woman to death?"

A couple of things will follow: on one side of the great divide, they will never tell us. On the other side, it will become internet legend that he was the one who beat her to death. The truth won't matter.

Furthermore, how does that Capitol cop escape accountability for shooting Ashli Babbitt to death for trespassing? Why didn't he put a flying tackle on her? Was he scared that she had a bomb? He never said so. Why weren't other protesters shot by other cops? That whole thing smells to high heaven. That cop screwed up, and they tried to turn him into a hero. He should have been fired as a threat to public safety.; 3/11/22, 8:38 AM
Bob Boyd said...: If the suicide can be ascribed to the Jan. 6th riot in this way, does that open up the possibility of a lawsuit against Trump and possibly others?; 3/11/22, 8:42 AM
Big Mike said...: I don't think he killed himself.

Me either. In fact, there were a number of Capitol Police who allegedly killed themselves following 1/6/2021. Allegedly.

Gullible Althouse thinks this is “a tipping point in a crusade to lift long-held taboos against open discussion of depression, addiction and suicide in policing.” No, classifying it as as a “line of duty” death gives them another club to beat on the 1/6 protesters. No more than that.; 3/11/22, 8:48 AM
wendybar said...: Every day Progressives in DC make me hate them more and more, and I am not a hateful person. If they make ME feel this way, I can imagine there are many more in America that have had it with the lies, the fake hoaxes, the lying media, and the corrupt politicians. This is a power keg that is going to blow, and it will not end well.; 3/11/22, 8:56 AM
gilbar said...: Maynard said...
How many Capitol and/or Metro cops have committed suicide after the Jan. 6 event?
If I recall correctly, the number is 6. Doesn't that raise suspicion?

I 'think' it was only 5; but it was More than one.
This was Such a Heroic Day, that SEVERAL cops killed themselves in shame?
Or, it was SO Traumatic,
watching the "rioters" carefully stay within the ropes; that PTSD caused the suicides?
OR..
These cops saw stuff, that caused them to be suicided; 3/11/22, 9:01 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Gullible Althouse thinks this is ..."

Poor reader Big Mike thinks whenever I quote something, I agree with it.; 3/11/22, 9:07 AM
Levi Starks said...: It’s nice to know that relatives of citizens who commit suicide after bad interactions with police can now sue for compensation.; 3/11/22, 9:09 AM
Dave Begley said...: The widow gets the pension and probably a work comp payout. Let's be frank.; 3/11/22, 9:09 AM
Ann Althouse said...: If you read the whole article, you'll see that there was evidence that Smith suffered a concussion from things that happened to him that day and that his personality totally changed, going from not suicidal at all to suicidal, which could have been post-concussion syndrome. That makes him distinctly different from other cops who suffer from depression and commit suicide.

Obviously, also, there's a motivation within the department to make what the rioters did look bad and to say it caused this suicide death works well for that cause. But you can't look back on that inappropriate consideration when the next widow of a cop argues that his death should also count as in the line of duty.; 3/11/22, 9:11 AM
gilbar said...: Amadeus 48 said...
how does that Capitol cop escape accountability for shooting Ashli Babbitt to death for trespassing?
That cop screwed up, and they tried to turn him into a hero.
He should have been fired as a threat to public safety.

It's Worse than that! There were other cops Right Behind Ashli. It's a miracle that she's the only one that got hit (see Alec Baldwin). Also, this Wasn't the first time that cop had violated gun safety protocols.
Earlier, he'd gone into a bathroom (drunk? stoned? we don't know), and left his Loaded pistol laying on the sink. When he left (came to? woke up? we don't know), he TOTALLY forgot his gun.
Think about that. He left a loaded gun laying in the sink. He shot a woman because he was scared.
Your tax dollars at work; 3/11/22, 9:11 AM
Achilles said...: Just like there was evidence that Brian Sicknick was hit with a fire extinguisher.

The NYT's is a bunch of liars. They have lied about so many things as an institution that quite frankly citing anything they say as evidence is willful.

They are evil people.

Nothing they say can be trusted.

Anyone who trusts a single word out of the NYT's is participating in their attempt to destroy this country.; 3/11/22, 9:17 AM
Narayanan said...: The moment may be a tipping point in a crusade to lift long-held taboos against open discussion of depression, addiction and suicide in policing, with several groups pushing for officers to have greater access to confidential counseling and other emotional supports."
============
this reads like workplace-trauma-contributing-conditions-colleagues

if they go to counseling should they even be out there policing?; 3/11/22, 9:29 AM
Joe Smith said...: I am sympathetic up until a certain point.

I have always been very pro police, but have become less so as they have become more militarized, and the police organizations increasingly liberal to keep in line with their union masters.

These people sign up to do this job. They receive very generous pay and benefits, including pensions unavailable to almost anyone except politicians or college professors.

They know the risks of their profession just as football players do.

My sympathy goes only so far...; 3/11/22, 9:31 AM
Joe Smith said...: 'How do we know he wasn't killed because he was a Trump supporter?'

He had dirt on Hillary...; 3/11/22, 9:32 AM
Michael K said...: They finally got a death on the regime side of the affair. Had to lie to do it but that's OK.; 3/11/22, 9:36 AM
wendybar said...: "If you read the whole article, you'll see that there was evidence that Smith suffered a concussion from things that happened to him that day and that his personality totally changed, going from not suicidal at all to suicidal, which could have been post-concussion syndrome."

Can't read it. It's behind a paywall, and I refuse to pay to get lied to. The NY Times got a Pulitizer for their lies about Russian Collusion, so why should we believe anything they print now???; 3/11/22, 9:44 AM
hombre said...: "We are all born ignorant, but one must work very hard to remain stupid." Attributed to Ben Franklin and thought to be a prophetic reference to New Democrats and their accomplices - like the DC Metro Police.; 3/11/22, 9:51 AM
Howard said...: January Sixers event was coordinated by Trump as a gift to Putin who is the biggest beneficiary of a destabilized divided United States.; 3/11/22, 9:52 AM
Big Mike said...: If you read the whole article, you'll see that there was evidence that Smith suffered a concussion from things that happened to him that day and that his personality totally changed, going from not suicidal at all to suicidal, which could have been post-concussion syndrome.

And Althouse claims that when it comes to the New York Times she is not gullible.; 3/11/22, 9:56 AM
MadisonMan said...: Poor reader Big Mike thinks whenever I quote something, I agree with it.
I'm trying to decide if I agree with what you've quoted. I'm stuck in a logic loop.; 3/11/22, 9:58 AM
hombre said...: Althouse: "If you read the whole article, you'll see that there was evidence that Smith suffered a concussion from things that happened to him that day ...."

Of course, the "line of duty" BS defies reality. Why wouldn't the PD or the NYT invent some support for it? The real question given the history of those entities is, "Why would anybody believe it?"

Oh, and let's see, why would the officer's wife support the story? $$$?; 3/11/22, 10:03 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Oh, fuck's sake- if he had tripped and accidentally drowned himself in a toilet, they would have counted it as an "in the line of duty" death. They needed to do so in order that the the insurrectionist would have at least one death they could be blamed for. The government murdered Ashli Babbitt, and called it a heroic act in the finest traditions of police service.; 3/11/22, 10:11 AM
CWJ said...: "They finally got a death on the regime side of the affair. Had to lie to do it but that's OK."

That was my initial reaction as well. They needed something to bolster their and Grampa Joe's repeated claims regarding 1/6 deaths, and one's better than none.

Let's see if anyone else get's transformed into a 1/6 martyr. That will be the real tell. I doubt they'll bring up Brian Sicknick again. He's performed his capitol rotunda duties, so he's already in the plus column. Redefining his stroke as riot induced will only remind people of the lies that put him in the rotunda in the first place.

OTOH, Althouse says the article cites concussion and subsequent behavior change as support for the line of duty designation, and maybe that's true. I don't know.; 3/11/22, 10:28 AM
JAORE said...: "If you read the whole article, you'll see that there was evidence that Smith suffered a concussion from things that happened to him that day and that his personality totally changed, going from not suicidal at all to suicidal, which could have been post-concussion syndrome."

Now, apply that logic to the 22 military/former military suicides that occur every frikkin' day. A high percentage with PTSD.

Should all the widows and defendants seek out the benefits of "in service" death?

Now why was this never examned before?????; 3/11/22, 10:29 AM
Mark O said...: There is nothing more arrogant than imagining the reasons for a suicide. Stop.; 3/11/22, 10:36 AM
RoseAnne said...: Is she going to sue the health care professionals who failed to recognize the man was potentially suicidal as a result of a physical injury?

Where's the tape? The problem with refusing to release any of the videotape - even to defendants - is that you don't have it available to support your own assertions.; 3/11/22, 10:45 AM
Michael K said...: Blogger Howard said...

January Sixers event was coordinated by Trump as a gift to Putin who is the biggest beneficiary of a destabilized divided United States.

Actually, it was January 20, 2021 and Biden was the gift giver. 17 of them. Destroyed the US energy industry. Canada's too.; 3/11/22, 11:06 AM
Dagwood said...: And if Michael Byrd did not go to work that day, Ashli Babbitt would still be alive.; 3/11/22, 11:10 AM
wendybar said...: Howard said...
January Sixers event was coordinated by Trump as a gift to Putin who is the biggest beneficiary of a destabilized divided United States.

3/11/22, 9:52 AM

You spelled PELOSI wrong. Trump asked for National Guard troops for that day...Nasty Nancy denied them. THIS is on her. WHY did she deny them?? What did she know, and when did she plan it??; 3/11/22, 11:25 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: Okay--maybe it was related to a concussion--although I doubt that even behind the paywall the NYT will explain how he got the concussion.

But what if he died of shame for what he did that day? I mean am I not entitled to hold an equally goofy idea? I mean maybe he saw his superior officer (who won't be charged) blow a woman away with a pistol shot to her neck.

I do have to agree with Mark O who said stop imagining the reasons for a suicide. Suicides are a tragedy and the person who really knows the reason for his or her suicide isn't around to articulate the reasons for the act.; 3/11/22, 11:25 AM
Browndog said...: Past of me wants the widow to get his pension, part of me wonders if she's the reason he committed suicide.; 3/11/22, 11:35 AM
iowan2 said...: you'll see that there was evidence that Smith suffered a concussion from things that happened to him that day and that his personality totally changed

I have no desire to speak ill of the dead. The "facts" however, will never be challenged in a meaningful way. Still its a long way from correlation to causation.

This just checks too many boxes furthering the leftist narrative.; 3/11/22, 11:45 AM
n.n said...: A Fentanyl-induced progressive condition, nationwide insurrections, diversity [dogma] (e.g. racism, sexism, ageism), Mengele mandates, political congruence, self-defense with plausible cause, progressive prices, redistributive change... Yes, they can abort the baby, cannibalize her profitable parts, sequester her carbon pollutants, and have her, too. We knew why, and NOW we know first-hand how it happens again, and again, and again.; 3/11/22, 12:20 PM
Maynard said...: January Sixers event was coordinated by Trump as a gift to Putin who is the biggest beneficiary of a destabilized divided United States.

Congrats to the Althouse crowd. We have hit the Big Time.

Hillary Clinton is now posting on this site.; 3/11/22, 12:23 PM
Achilles said...: Howard said...

January Sixers event was coordinated by Trump as a gift to Putin who is the biggest beneficiary of a destabilized divided United States.

Now do BLM and the Keystone Pipeline protests and the Environmentalist shutdown of US energy production.

Nobody believes your stupid shit Howard. It is just obviously wrong.

You are just following the fascist shithead path of starting wars and attacking your domestic political opponents.

You are just as bad a person as Vladimir Putin.; 3/11/22, 12:55 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: How many police suicides were there after the summer of rioting in 2020? It seems to me that those police saw far worse that the cops in the Capitol.; 3/11/22, 1:00 PM
Jaq said...: Wow, the water has been heating for quite a while, but now they have the frog at full boil. Maybe he killed himself because he couldn't believe the bullshit he was forced to go along with and wept for his country.; 3/11/22, 1:12 PM
Iman said...: Poor Howeeee, dead and gone
Left his dog to howl his song
Prissy little ponce lived a life gone wrong
Poor Howeeee dead and gone; 3/11/22, 1:17 PM
Static Ping said...: Ann: If you read the whole article, you'll see that there was evidence that Smith suffered a concussion...

If this is the case, that might be a reasonable decision to consider this as "in the line of duty," same as if he suffered an internal injury that he did not recognize but died from several days later.

The problem is everyone involved has no credibility at the moment. I can go on at length about the lies and disinformation, the federal informants that we trying to incite a riot, the persons in jail under horrible conditions for doing little else other than walking between the velvet ropes after being invited in by the police, the whitewashing of a bad shoot by an officer who had previously mishandled a firearm, the suppression of evidence that would go against the narrative, and so forth and so on. Why should I believe them now? Furthermore, why I should I believe anything in the New York Times, given they are a blatantly partisan rag that has been exposed pushing false conspiracy theories for the past five years? You might as well tell me to read an article by Vladimir Putin in Pravda.

The Devil will tell the truth when it serves its purposes. So will the Deep State.; 3/11/22, 1:45 PM
n.n said...: It seems to me that those police saw far worse that the cops in the Capitol.

The political leaders refused executive assistance, the cops in the Capitol invited the people inside then were ordered to pull the rug, progressed to attack the people assembled killing an unarmed woman with plausible cause, and forced a riot ("disorder"). It is not only plausible, but probable, that those with a conscience would experience psychological traumatic brain injury for their role in the riot, governmental gulags, and sustained cover-up.; 3/11/22, 1:51 PM
Ann Althouse said...: “ And Althouse claims that when it comes to the New York Times she is not gullible.”

No, Mike , you really are a poor reader. Reread and remember to use the actual meaning of the word evidence.

You seem to want to insult me, so I will dish it back. Look up the definition of evidence. I’m being precise and you’re just missing it.; 3/11/22, 3:01 PM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Another norm shattered because Trump!; 3/11/22, 3:04 PM
Howard said...: You people are so uptight.; 3/11/22, 3:56 PM
realestateacct said...: And once more the political narrative replaces lawful precedent.; 3/11/22, 3:59 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger Howard said...

You people are so uptight.

Well, unlike Biden nobody here shits his pants in public. I guess that is "uptight."; 3/11/22, 5:18 PM
walter said...: "A sergeant sent him to the Police and Fire Clinic, which handles job-related injuries, where he was prescribed ibuprofen and sent home. After a follow-up visit about a week later, he was ordered to return to work. It was on the way to his shift that he shot himself"

Fwiw, recovery from concussion seemingly ranges from 7 days up to about 3 months.
You would think a cop injured in an event like this would have been screened significantly before being returned to duty.; 3/11/22, 5:21 PM
n.n said...: And once more the political narrative replaces lawful precedent.

A handmade tale.; 3/11/22, 5:44 PM
rehajm said...: You seem to want to insult me, so I will dish it back.

Way to pound the table, counselor…; 3/11/22, 5:58 PM
FullMoon said...: "A sergeant sent him to the Police and Fire Clinic, which handles job-related injuries, where he was prescribed ibuprofen and sent home. After a follow-up visit about a week later, he was ordered to return to work. It was on the way to his shift that he shot himself.

Medical experts retained by Ms. Smith said that he had no history of depression or mental health issues before Jan. 6, and that his death was caused by “post-concussion syndrome,” which can lead to cognitive problems, depression and suicidal thoughts."

The man would rather die than return to work. Why? Guilt, or fear, or maybe something in his personal life.

Will his wife remarries to a "long time aquaintince"?

The diagnosis was provided after the death.

Next up, class action against ibuprofen.; 3/12/22, 8:51 AM