The outgoing chief of the U.S. Capitol Police issued an unusual public statement Monday criticizing a reported settlement between Justice Department and the family of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed on Jan. 6, 2021, by an officer guarding the House chamber.
“I am extremely disappointed and disagree with this settlement,” Chief Thomas Manger said, noting that a prior DOJ investigation found no wrongdoing by police. “This settlement sends a chilling message to law enforcement nationwide, especially to those with a protective mission like ours.”
The Washington Post reported Monday that Justice Department attorneys and Babbitt’s family had reached the settlement.
The Justice Department closed its investigation into the officer, U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, in April 2021, and an internal Capitol Police investigation also cleared him of wrongdoing. Byrd, a decadeslong veteran of the force, shot Babbitt as she tried to climb through a barricaded door just a few steps from the House floor. He went into hiding for months after the attack amid death threats and racist threats against him and his family.
Since then, Babbitt’s death has become a rallying cry on the far right, with President Donald Trump boosting the cause of Jan. 6 rioters and calling Byrd a “disgrace.”
Manger — a former chief of the departments in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, who took over the Capitol Police in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection — is set to retire later this month.
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