Riot Squad Cops Open Up About Disastrous Response to Capitol Riot | Hacker News Reader

Riot Squad Cops Open Up About Disastrous Response to Capitol Riot

propublica.org

54 pointshamiltonians9 comments

Based on the title of the article, I was hoping to finally read what happened from the words of the officers themselves. Sadly, the bulk of this is the author's narration speckled with truncated quotes.

The facts surrounding the death of officer Sicknick are not clear:

> That officer was one of at least two to be assaulted with such a device that day; another, Brian Sicknick, died from his injuries the following day.

Also from propublica:

> He texted me last night and said, ‘I got pepper-sprayed twice,’ and he was in good shape, said Ken Sicknick, his brother, as the family drove toward Washington. 'Apparently he collapsed in the Capitol and they resuscitated him using CPR.

https://www.propublica.org/article/officer-brian-sicknick-ca...

This warrants further investigation to come to a conclusion.

In just a few days after 9/11, we learned many details of the plot and action. We saw the gallery of faces of the hijackers, with their names. We knew when and how they boarded the planes. And more.

Over a month has passed since 1/6, and we don't have much more info now than we did the day it happened. Most still is just from various clips presented by the media (and the house impeachment managers?!). We still have heard no justice department or FBI press briefing with any details.

For weeks we heard about a "bludgeoning" with a fire extinguisher that evidently didn't happen (though the officer did die... somehow).

Hard to regain trust or unify this way.

I think that's the media you're consuming rather than any silence from the FBI etc.

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/capitol-violence is a fairly comprehensive overview including:

- links to lists from the justice department of who has been charged with what crimes, and supporting documents.

- a list of photos from footage showing people the FBI are seeking further information about, along with a general category as to why (assault on media / assault of a federal officer).

- a whole list of press releases the FBI has put out about the investigation.

That's not a big mystery. Rather a Nebelkerze. The NYT wrote this about the murder, at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/brian-sicknick-police-...:

> Law enforcement officials initially said Mr. Sicknick was struck with a fire extinguisher, but weeks later, police sources and investigators were at odds over whether he was hit. Medical experts have said he did not die of blunt force trauma, according to one law enforcement official. “He returned to his division office and collapsed,” the Capitol Police said in the statement. “He was taken to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.”

As horrible as that is, uncertainty of how it happened is to be expected in such a chaos.

More interesting: Why weren't the officials on the radio, why are there videos out there of police letting rioters in directly in front of the capitol, why was there no support, why wasn't the intelligence about the impending terrorist attack shared? Was an armed response even considered?

The corruption is completely obvious and evident, only incompetence can explain parts of it away. The article shines a light on what happened that day and covers those thoughts, that makes it interesting.

The 9/11 attackers were a small, organised group who had to take ID with them. But still in the immediate aftermath there was a fair bit of debate about which Islamist faction they represented (including a false claim of responsibility), mistaken identity claims about at least one of the hijackers and plenty of confusion over what on earth happened on Flight 93 as well as question marks about the speed of security responses that have arguably never had a satisfactory answer. Not to mention numerous sillier arguments about jet fuel being unable to melt steel beams cropping up in various corners of the internet.

The Capitol invaders were a much larger number of people from overlapping groups some more planned than others and some apparently with more explicit [and less successful] goals than others, and some likely guilty of greater crimes than others so it's a less straightforward narrative. Especially since most of those identified as involved expect a fair trial.

Also, the hijackers weren't praised by the POTUS and instinctively sympathised with by much of US media, which didn't have the same instincts to either push false flag angles or to question whether the security response might have been deliberately sabotaged.

I think it’s harder to have succinct press conferences when there are hundreds of terrorists instead of 19.

The FBI/Justice Department have been busy identifying, charging, and arresting hundreds of insurrectionists. Details on many of the individuals actions are present in court filings, which some media have been reporting on. Admittedly not as digestible to the public but ultimately more important.

> even cans of food they had frozen for extra damage.

This is where you should turn off

> In the melee, a rioter was captured on video hurling a fire extinguisher at the Capitol police. It struck an officer in the head, giving him a concussion, according to his colleagues. That officer was one of at least two to be assaulted with such a device that day; another, Brian Sicknick, died from his injuries the following day.

This is a lie the NYT told. We've know it's a lie for over a week. CNN retracted it a while back. Since this 'media' is so biased I'll link a biased 'media' on the other side about this - https://thepostmillennial.com/nyt-issues-correction-of-story...

Lets also not forget how the media hounded the Capitol Police for being on the protesters side, driving one to suicide.

Lie? What's the intent behind the lie? To reduce fire extinguisher sales?

The police officer died. So they might have had a stroke as a result of inhaling best spray.

What does that actually change? They're still dead and likely wouldn't have been if the riot didn't happen.

Unless you're arguing that it's natural causes.

Also the officer that commited suicide there isn't a public note, the family is refusing interviews and the police haven't said anything about their reasons.

You're the one making up reasons for their suicide to complain about biased media.

Your source linked to a NYT story that says it was updated four days after original posting. As if they received new information and reported on it.

Your source also says "According to Capitol police, Sicknick later had a stroke. It is now being investigated whether he inhaled bear spray, and whether that may have contributed to his sudden death." Where are your source's sources? And does it matter if Sicknick died from being beaten to death or as a (possible) result of inhaling bear spray?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com