Ashli Babbitt's family to sue Capitol police officer responsible for veteran's death during Jan 6 insurrection
The family of Ashli Babbitt says it's filing a civil suit against the Capitol Police officer who shot and killed her during the January 6 riots.
During an appearance on Newsmax on Monday morning, April 26, Terry Roberts, the attorney representing the devastated family of Babbitt, discussed their fight for justice in the shooting death of their beloved daughter. Roberts said he is handling the civil action that is due to be filed shortly.
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“The family and I were disappointed in the Department of Justice decision on this but my role really is to bring a civil action and in that way vindicate her rights," Roberts told Newsmax.
Addressing the Justice Department's decision to protect the identity of the killer, Roberts said he and the family "strongly disagree with the Justice Department’s decision on this. We think the evidence is ample and would support criminal charges against the officer.”
Many have claimed how Babbitt's demise was the one wrongful death by police that pundits across the media had completely ignored without any discussion. Nonetheless, the Babbitt family announced on the night of April 26 that they were suing the Capitol Police over the shooting death of their daughter.
That said, the lawsuit comes after the DoJ announced earlier this month that it had decided not to pursue criminal charges against the unnamed officer who shot Babbitt to death as she attempted to climb through a broken door window inside the Capitol building. The department has claimed there is "insufficient evidence" to pursue such charges against the officer.
Roberts explained that there was enough evidence to slap the officer with a number of criminal charges for killing Babbitt, of Lakeside, California, who died at the age of just 35.
"Clearly, the officer had the required willfulness," Roberts continued. "He clearly could see that she was not armed, she did not present an immediate threat to him, and there was no legal justification for shooting her."
According to Roberts, the officer did not warn Babbitt before shooting her as she was trying to enter the Speaker's Lobby just off the House floor. This meant the officer should have been charged, the attorney said.
The aggrieved family has stated that their lawsuit will allege a violation of their daughter's constitutional rights.
The New York Post reported that Babbitt was an Air Force veteran who had served for 14 years and had done four tours of duty, according to her husband, Aaron Babbitt, who spoke to KUSI-TV. Babbit was a resident of San Diego and had traveled to Washington DC for the protests.
In a disturbing cell phone video of Babbitt's death, the former Air Force pilot can be seen draped in red, white, and blue as she falls to the ground amid commotion and blood comes out of her mouth. There was considerable outrage in the wake of her death on January 6, when she sustained a gunshot fired by the Capitol police. MEAWW previously reported how Trump supporters were livid her death didn't garner the same media attention as Daunte Wright's did.