{"id":123591,"date":"2021-02-10T16:22:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T21:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=123591"},"modified":"2021-02-10T16:27:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T21:27:38","slug":"walsh-media-says-capitol-riot-killed-five-people-the-truth-is-more-complicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/walsh-media-says-capitol-riot-killed-five-people-the-truth-is-more-complicated\/","title":{"rendered":"WALSH: Media Says Capitol Riot Killed Five People. The Truth Is More Complicated."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwalsh-media-says-capitol-riot-killed-five-people-the-truth-is-more-complicated%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=123591&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Capitol-Riot-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>We have been reminded repeatedly&nbsp;that the riot in DC on January 6th was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/02\/09\/trump-impeachment-trial-live-updates-stream.html\">deadly<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/local\/2021\/01\/10\/deadly-siege-on-us-capitol-building-reignites-gun-debate-in-michigan\/\">fatal<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/533959-tensions-flare-between-house-republicans-capitol-police-over-metal-detectors\">lethal<\/a>,\u201d as it has been variously&nbsp;described. The point is being hammered with extra enthusiasm during the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump this week. It is a point the media has cemented in the public consciousness over the course of the last month. Five deaths. That is the number we\u2019ve been given by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/11\/us\/who-died-in-capitol-building-attack.html\">The New York Times<\/a> and other legacy outlets. In fact, all in all, a total of seven deaths \u2014 four civilians and three police officers \u2014 have been tied to the riot.<\/p>\n<p>The odd thing, though, is that most of these deaths are discussed only in the most general and vague terms. We are told <em>that<\/em> people died, and we are given the approximate alleged context of their deaths, but very little is said about <em>how<\/em> it happened. But the \u201chow\u201d seems rather important. It is certainly important to the families, who have a right to know exactly how and why their loved ones perished. It is important to the American public, which ought to be given the full truth of an event that has already been used to justify the indefinite militarization of our capital and the impeachment of the former president. And it is important, most of all, because the truth simply matters \u2014 particularly about what results in the tragic loss of life. If we are going to be told so often and in such emphatic terms that the riot claimed the lives of five people \u2014 or even seven people \u2014 then we should also be told how, exactly, that occurred. If the people making the claim don\u2019t themselves know how it occurred, then they should not be making the claim at all. If they do know, and they aren\u2019t telling us, then a whole new realm of problems opens up.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So, what do we actually know about the often cited body count?&nbsp;Out of seven deaths in some way tied back to the riot, we know that two were suicides in the days and weeks following the chaos. Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee&nbsp;said that officers Jeffrey Smith and Howard Liebengood \u201ctook their own lives in the aftermath of that battle.\u201d Does that mean that the trauma of the event pushed them over the edge? Did they leave notes or make statements indicating that the riot itself had caused that kind of psychological damage? Or did they have other things going on internally, or in their personal lives, that led to this tragic conclusion? If anyone knows the answers to those questions, they aren\u2019t telling us. All we can say for sure is that two men who were serving in the line of duty during the riot later went on to take their own lives. Anyone who connects these two facts is making an assumption.<\/p>\n<p>As for the civilian deaths tied to the riot, we know their names are: Benjamin Philips, Ashli Babbit, Rosanne Boyland and Kevin Greeson. It was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/dc-police-chief-3-deaths-fatalities-medical-conditions-us-capitol-riots-2021-1\">reported<\/a> by Chief Contee immediately after the riot that three of the victims \u2014 Philips, Boyland and Greeson \u2014 died from \u201cseparate medical emergencies.\u201d Kevin Greeson\u2019s family later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-9152849\/Trump-supporter-Kevin-Greeson-died-Capitol-riots-Obama-fan.html\">confirmed<\/a> that he had high blood pressure and died of a heart attack \u201cin the midst of the excitement.\u201d Even fewer <a href=\"https:\/\/fusion.inquirer.com\/news\/pennsylvania\/washington-protest-trump-capitol-pennsylvania-ben-philips-20210107.html\">details<\/a> have been given about Benjamin Phillips\u2019s death, but we do know that he suffered a stroke at some point on January 6th and later died in the hospital.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For Rosanne Boyland, the story is murkier. It was initially reported by the media that Boyland was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/08\/rosanne-boyland-woman-killed-in-dc-riots-was-trampled-by-crowd\/\">trampled to death<\/a>.\u201d This would certainly qualify, unquestionably, as a death caused directly by the riot. Yet a more in-depth <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/15\/us\/rosanne-boyland-capitol-riot-death.html\">examination<\/a> of her death in the New York Times shows that she collapsed while amid a flood of people near the Capitol building. Others in the crowd tried to revive her with CPR, but their efforts were unsuccessful. The chief medical examiner of Washington DC \u2014 as of January 21st anyway \u2014 said that her cause of death is \u201cpending.\u201d Was she indeed trampled to death? Did she suffer some other medical emergency? Did she have trouble breathing because of the crush of people? Thus far, we are left only to speculate.<\/p>\n<p>Ashli Babbit is the clearest case of all. She was certainly killed by violence during the riot. But her death was caused by a police officer who fatally shot her while she was trying to climb through a broken door inside the Capitol building. Babbit was unarmed.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves Officer Brian Sicknick. In many ways, the circumstances surrounding his death are the murkiest of all. Immediately following the riot, the Capitol Police issued a statement saying that an officer had \u201cpassed away due to injuries sustained while on duty.\u201d We were told that \u201che returned to his division office and collapsed,\u201d and then was taken to a hospital where he died. The Times and others reported that the officer, soon identified as Brian Sicknick, was bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher by someone \u2014 or multiple people \u2014 in the crowd. This is the story that stuck. As prominent \u201chuman rights lawyer\u201d Qassim Rashid <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/QasimRashid\/status\/1347624976631914497\">put it<\/a> on January 8, Sicknick \u201cwas beat to death by a fire extinguisher to his skull by right wing terrorists.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The problem with this established narrative is that it doesn\u2019t appear to be true. Little has been officially revealed about Sicknick\u2019s cause of death, and the autopsy results, for whatever reason, have not been made available to the public. But in a report that did not receive much attention or emphasis last week, CNN <a href=\"https:\/\/kslnewsradio.com\/1942593\/investigators-struggle-to-build-murder-case-in-death-of-us-capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick\/\">revealed<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>Investigators are struggling to build a federal murder case regarding fallen US Capitol Police officer&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/02\/01\/opinions\/brian-sicknick-honor-capitol-moskos\/index.html\">Brian Sicknick,<\/a>&nbsp;vexed by a lack of evidence that could prove someone caused his death as he defended the Capitol during last month\u2019s insurrection.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Authorities have reviewed video and photographs that show Sicknick engaging with rioters amid the siege but have yet to identify a moment in which he suffered his fatal injuries, law enforcement officials familiar with the matter said\u2026. To date, little information has been shared publicly about the circumstances of the death of the 13-year veteran of the police force, including any findings from an autopsy that was conducted by DC\u2019s medical examiner\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Findings from a medical examiner\u2019s review have not yet been released and authorities have not made any announcements about that ongoing process. According to one law enforcement official, medical examiners did not find signs that the officer sustained any blunt force trauma, so investigators believe that early reports that he was fatally struck by a fire extinguisher are not true. One possibility being considered by investigators is that Sicknick became ill after interacting with a chemical irritant like pepper spray or bear spray that was deployed in the crowd. But investigators reviewing video of the officer\u2019s time around the Capitol haven\u2019t been able to confirm that in tape that has been recovered so far, the official said.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The case could also be complicated if Sicknick had a preexisting medical condition. It could not be learned if he did.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>What this all means is that we do not yet know if Sicknick\u2019s death, while obviously tragic no matter what caused it, was the result of any direct action taken by anyone in the crowd. There is, to date, according to these reports, no evidence at all that Sicknick was murdered. There is no evidence \u2014 at least none provided to the public \u2014 that his death was caused by the riot, even indirectly. All we actually know, all we have been told, is that Officer Sicknick was at the riot and then later died. That is the full extent of the information officially given to the public.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, based on the available evidence, we can say conclusively that one person, Ashli Babbit, was directly killed by violence in the riot. We can say with relative certainly that two others died of medical emergencies stemming from underlying health concerns. That leaves two, Sicknick and Boyland, whose deaths are still a relative mystery \u2014 to the public, anyway. Presumably the autopsy results could lend quite a bit of clarity, but those results are being withheld, for whatever reason. At this point, any claim that five people died because of the riot, or were killed by the riot, or even that five people died <em>in<\/em> the riot, is based more on speculation than evidence. It is what the social media company and the news media itself would normally call \u201cmisinformation.\u201d Yet in this case the misinformation is repeated, and allowed to be spread, and hardly anyone stops to question it.<\/p>\n<p><em><span>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em><span>member<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have been reminded repeatedly\u00a0that the riot in DC on January 6th was \u201cdeadly\u201d and \u201cfatal\u201d and \u201clethal,\u201d as it has been variously\u00a0described. The point is being hammered with extra &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1893127,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4172,3940,4188,3618,4005,4208],"class_list":["post-123591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-capitol","tag-killed","tag-media","tag-riot","tag-says","tag-walsh"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1893127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}