U.S. Capitol Police officer cleared of wrongdoing in fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt during Capitol

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Killing a terrorist in the act of attempting to overthrow our country is justified.

Link to tweet

A U.S. Capitol Police officer has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing for fatally shooting Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt as she attempted to breach a set of doors deep in the Capitol during the January siege, federal prosecutors in D.C. announced Wednesday.

Authorities determined there was insufficient evidence to prove Babbitt’s civil rights were violated, and that it was reasonable for the officer to believe he was firing in self-defense or in defense of members of Congress and aides who were fleeing the House chamber. Prosecutors did not identify the officer.

The slaying of the 35-year-old California native became one of the defining moments of the riot, after graphic videos of her shooting spread across social media and were replayed by news outlets.

[Arazi]

1. Good justice. I'm glad he's retained some anonymity too

Or the crazy members of Cult45 would be hunting him and his family forever

[Dorian Gray]

9. Totally agree

I didn't even realize they were considering charging him. Seeing that video, I thought his actions were totally appropriate.

Agree about the relative anonymity, too.

[Caliman73]

2. Tragic

While it is legally the correct outcome, I am sure the officer is going to have to deal with the emotional aspects of having to take a life, for years to come. While Babbitt has to assume responsibility for her actions in the insurrection, there is more accountability to be spread around. The people that put her on this path to her death, bear responsibility too. Trump, for his incessant and continuing lies about "a stolen election", right wing media for propagating those lies, and those politicians (Boebert, Greene, Hawley, Cruz, etc...) who supported and encouraged the insurrection.

This is sad and sick.

[Demsrule86]

5. First of all, the officer was doing his job and had he not done so I think members of

Congress would be dead today. So, I hope he feels no guilt at all. She chose to invade the capitol and was in on the insurrection...the plan was to murder Senators and Congress people...don't feel bad for her at all. I am relieved she didn't cause more death.

[Caliman73]

6. What you said is likely accurate.

That said, what you hope for the officer not feeling guilt is likely irrelevant. All current study in police shootings, indicate that whether or not they are justified, the shooting officer suffers from the traumatic event. I do hope that he is able to process the trauma and that he realized that what he did was necessary to protect others.

Feeling a sense of tragedy for an unnecessary death is just a basic human emotion, and does not take away from what she may have been planning to do, may have done, or whatever. I am not sure about what death she specifically caused, to the point where you say, "I am relieved that she didn't cause MORE death". The actions of the insurrectionists certainly created the situation where people died and there is a specific person or people that beat the officer to death. To my knowledge she was not involved with beating the officer. As I said, while the direct responsibility lies on her shoulders, there are a lot of people who helped to put her in that situation. There needs to be justice for everything that happened that day. She received her consequences at the end of the barrel of a gun, but there are a lot of people who are walking around with little consequence and who continue to foment the problems that lead to the insurrection.

When we start to see people as non-human, or deserving of death, or we don't feel a sense of tragedy around a ridiculous death, that is when we become the monsters that we claim to despise.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. She should have complied

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Caliman73]

10. There are a lot of things she should have and should not have done.

Not listening to right wing idiots and a loser demagogue is high up on that list. She should never have been at the Capitol, along with all the other idiots who were there.

As I said, her consequence for her actions came at the barrel of a gun. She is dead and an officer has to deal with the fact that he killed another human being. It is tragic all around. The officer was cleared of any wrong doing, which is the correct outcome. I hope that he can move past this situation.

[soothsayer]

3. He shot her in the shoulder

Really bad outcome.

[ZonkerHarris]

4. justified.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. The eight fellow terrorists arrested who were part of this attack should be charged with murder

Link to tweet

Federal prosecutors have charged at least eight people who were in the crowd around Babbitt in the moments before she was shot. They include Christopher Ray Grider, a Texas winery owner who is accused of trying to kick in the Speaker’s Lobby doors; Zachary Jordan Alam, of Pennsylvania, who is accused of smashing the glass pane Babbitt attempted to crawl through; and Chad Barrett Jones, of Kentucky, who is accused of smashing another pane with a wood stick that had a Trump flag attached.

Authorities had suggested the possibility of bringing felony murder charges against rioters if Babbitt’s death was a foreseeable consequence of felony conduct by others, according to a person familiar with the matter. But they have since ruled out that possibility, given case law that allows such charges only in instances when an accomplice is responsible for a victim’s death, not a law enforcement officer.

D.C. police are required by law to identify officers involved in serious uses of force within five business days of an incident. They are also required to release video from body cameras of the officers directly involved. The law only applies to D.C. police. Capitol Police are not equipped with body cameras.