{"id":2006303,"date":"2023-08-20T14:20:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T18:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-rules-police-officers-suicide-8-days-after-jan-6-was-a-death-in-the-line-of-duty\/"},"modified":"2023-08-20T14:21:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T18:21:32","slug":"doj-rules-police-officers-suicide-8-days-after-jan-6-was-a-death-in-the-line-of-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-rules-police-officers-suicide-8-days-after-jan-6-was-a-death-in-the-line-of-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ: Officer&#8217;s Suicide After Jan. 6 Ruled Line-of-Duty Death"},"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\">18<\/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%2Fdoj-rules-police-officers-suicide-8-days-after-jan-6-was-a-death-in-the-line-of-duty%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=2006303&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--><h2>The Justice Department Recognizes Police Officer&#8217;s Suicide as Line of Duty Death<\/h2>\n<p>The Justice\u200b Department has made a significant ruling regarding the death of \u200ba police officer who took his own life eight days after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion. In a groundbreaking decision, the department has determined that the officer died in\u2063 the line of duty, granting \u200dhis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-rules-police-officers-suicide-8-days-after-jan-6-was-a-death-in-the-line-of-duty\/\" title=\"DOJ: Officer's Suicide After Jan. 6 Ruled Line-of-Duty Death\">wife federal benefits typically<\/a>\u200c given to families of fallen officers.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, families of officers who intentionally died by suicide were ineligible for such benefits. However, this new\u200d ruling, following\u200c President Joe Biden&#8217;s revisions to the Public Safety Officer Support Act, now allows certain suicides to be classified as line of duty deaths.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200d revised legislation, \u200cwhich was\u2063 passed almost a year ago, expanded disability \u2062and education benefits. It\u2064 now requires \u200dthe Public Safety Officers&#8217; Benefits Program (PSOB) to &#8220;presume&#8221; that \u200bsuicides are a result of job duties, as long as there is evidence of a physical \u2063injury that could lead to emotional trauma.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The new Public Safety Officer Support Act in the US will allow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rep-roy-biden-admin-policies-fueling-cartel-traffic-uptick\/\" title=\"Rep. Roy: Biden admin. policies fueling cartel traffic uptick\">public safety officers<\/a> to seek disability benefits for PTSD linked to severe trauma to designate work-related PTSD &#038; acute stress disorders as a line of duty injury.\u2063 It recognizes the\u2064 emotional toll\u200c on 1st responders<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 TJ Kennedy (@TJPublicSafety) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TJPublicSafety\/status\/1571151460372717570?\">September 17, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Erin Smith, the widow of Metropolitan police officer Jeffrey\u2064 Smith, \u2063was the first to be considered \u200cunder the new law, according \u2063to \u200dher attorney. Officer Smith was among the many officers who served \u200dat the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. On that day, he was involved in multiple altercations, including scuffling with protesters and being struck in the face \u200dby a flying metal pole.<\/p>\n<p>Tragically, eight days after the Capitol incursion, on Jan. 15, Smith took his own life in his car while on \u200chis way to work. Despite having no recorded\u200d history \u2064of depression, his wife firmly\u200b believes that his injuries sustained at the Capitol &#8220;clearly caused his death,&#8221; as reported by the New York Times.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Erin Smith,\u2062 the widow of a D.C. police officer who took his own life days after \u2063reporting to the Capitol on January 6, says\u200d &#8220;he was never\u2064 the same&#8221; after the insurrection.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He characterized January 6 as the worst day of his \u2062life,&#8221; she says. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OT222AdyJu\">https:\/\/t.co\/OT222AdyJu<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0XN7OCs4rs\">pic.twitter.com\/0XN7OCs4rs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CBSMornings\/status\/1509247933648146441?\">March 30, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Justice Department&#8217;s ruling \u200cmeans that Erin Smith now\u2063 qualifies for federal benefits, including a $370,000 award given to families of fallen officers. In a letter to Smith, the\u2064 director of the Justice Department&#8217;s Public Safety Officers&#8217; Benefit Office expressed condolences and gratitude for Officer Smith&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hundreds-of-minneapolis-police-officers-left-after-getting-slammed-now-city-spending-millions-for-new-recruits\/\" title=\"Hundreds Of Minneapolis Police Officers Left After Getting Slammed. Now City Spending Millions For New Recruits.\">public safety efforts<\/a> and commitment to his community.<\/p>\n<p>In\u2063 addition to the federal benefits, Erin Smith also receives 100 percent of her \u200bhusband&#8217;s pension\u200b after the D.C.\u200b Police and Firefighters&#8217; Retirement and Relief Board determined that Smith&#8217;s death was in \u200cthe line of duty.<\/p>\n<p>This ruling marks a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-controlled-house-passes-1-9-trillion-stimulus-bill-two-dems-vote-against-it\/\" title=\"Democrat-Controlled House Passes .9 Trillion Stimulus Bill; Two Dems Vote Against It\">significant step forward<\/a> in recognizing the emotional toll and sacrifices \u2062made by public \u200csafety \u2062officers. It acknowledges the lasting \u200bimpact of traumatic events on \u200dfirst responders and their families.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/doj-rules-police-officers-suicide-8-days-jan-6-death-line-duty\/\">The Western Journal<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Justice Department has decided that the police officer who took his own life after the Jan. 6 Capitol incident died in the line of duty. As a result, his wife will receive federal benefits typically provided to families of fallen officers. Previously, families of officers who intentionally ended their lives were ineligible for such benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2043,"featured_media":2006304,"comment_status":"open","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":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2006303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"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\/2006303","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\/2043"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2006303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2006304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2006303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2006303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2006303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}