Nine days after he helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of Trump supporters, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith shot and killed himself while driving to work. Over four years later, Smith’s widow is trying to prove to a jury that one of the thousands of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is responsible for her husband’s suicide.
The trial for Erin Smith’s wrongful death lawsuit against David Walls-Kaufman started nearly six months after President Donald Trump torpedoed the largest investigation in FBI history. Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in the attack.
But his sweeping act of clemency didn’t erase Smith’s lawsuit against Walls-Kaufman, a 69-year-old chiropractor who pleaded guilty to Capitol riot-related misdemeanor in January 2023. A federal jury in Washington, D.C., began hearing testimony Monday for a civil trial expected to last roughly one week.
Was curious what the connection was resulting in the lawsuit
Smith’s lawsuit claims Walls-Kaufman [a Jan 6 rioter] scuffled with her 35-year-old husband [the deceased] and struck him with his own police baton inside the Capitol, causing psychological and physical trauma that led to his suicide. Smith had no history of mental health problems before the Jan. 6 riot, but his mood and behavior changed after suffering a concussion, according to his wife and parents.
Walls-Kaufman, who lived near the Capitol, denies assaulting Smith. He says any injuries that the officer suffered on Jan. 6 occurred later in the day, when another rioter threw a pole that struck Smith around his head.
Brackets added for clarity
“Nonono, another guy responsible for his death, I just aided them!”
Now there’s a man who enjoys liquor.
“Nah, I didn’t hit him that hard, it was that other guy what killed him.”
