A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed most of the civil counts against former President Donald Trump and two others in connection with the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick during the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6.
In a 12-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed three of the five civil counts in a lawsuit filed last January by Sandra Garza, Sicknick’s girlfriend.
Garza’s lawsuit against Trump and Jan. 6 rioters Julian Khater and George Tanios sought damages from all three men for claims of wrongful death, conspiracy to violate civil rights, and negligence per se based on D.C.’s anti-riot law.
In his ruling Tuesday, Mehta dismissed the wrongful death act count and both negligence per se allegations.
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The 42-year-old officer, who joined the Capitol Police in July 2008, responded to the chaotic scene and was pepper-sprayed by Khater and Tanios.
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He was rushed to the hospital but died the next evening from two thromboembolic strokes.
According to the ruling, the D.C. medical examiner’s office found that Sicknick died of “natural causes” from a series of strokes and that “all that transpired on [January 6] played a role in his condition.”
Trump is facing a series of legal challenges related to his alleged role in the Capitol riot.
A federal appeals court last month rejected the former president’s efforts to dismiss civil claims seeking to hold him to account for the riot on the basis of presidential immunity.
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