The watchdog group Judicial Watch says a US District Court has ordered the Department of Justice to answer the $30 million wrongful death suit filed on behalf of the estate of Ashli Babbitt.
Babbitt is the only person killed at the US Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. She was shot by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.
More information from Judicial Watch below.
The court has given the government 30 days to answer the complaint. The order also states that Judicial Watch can file a reply brief by August 23 in its petition to have the case returned to Babbitt’s home of San Diego, California, where it was originally filed.
Babbitt, 35, owned and operated a pool business with her husband Aaron. She traveled alone from San Diego to Washington, DC, to attend the Women for America First (aka Save America) rally on January 6, 2021, at the Ellipse.
The wrongful death lawsuit was filed on January 5, 2024, in the US District Court for the Southern District of California against the US Government on behalf of the family of Babbitt.
The Justice Department must respond to the lawsuit’s claims for wrongful death, assault and battery, negligence and a clam for “survival action” under federal law. (As a result of the court’s order, the lawsuit will proceed on these key counts, as the court considers the Biden administration’s request to dismiss certain other claims.)
The shooting occurred at the east entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby. After demonstrators filled the hallway outside the lobby, two individuals in the crowded, tightly packed hallway struck and dislodged the glass panels in the lobby doors and the right door sidelight. Lt. Byrd, who is a United States Capitol Police commander and was the incident commander for the House on January 6, 2021, shot Ashli on sight as she raised herself up into the opening of the right door sidelight. Lt. Byrd later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands or assessing her intentions or even identifying her as female. Ashli was unarmed. Her hands were up in the air, empty, and in plain view of Lt. Byrd and other officers in the lobby.
The lawsuit points out that, based on prior incidents involving Lt. Byrd, the Capitol Police, Capitol Police Board, and ultimately Congress, as Lt. Byrd’s employer, “knew or should have known that Lt. Byrd was prone to behave in a dangerous or otherwise incompetent manner.”
Ashli Babbitt’s family is thrilled the $30 million wrongful death lawsuit for her outrageous killing is moving full speed ahead.
Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch President
Read more information here: Estate of Ashli Babbitt and Aaron Babbitt, et al. v. United States of America
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I’m glad to read the courts are starting to see the dangerous grounds our government is proceeding on. When unanswered assault, shooting, murder is committed by a rouge government or governmental agency they must be brought to justice and held to the same standard as we the citizens are.
I will assume they, the government, will stonewall and fight this right up to the supreme court. With the mentally “how dare you challenge or question our authority.
Thanks for the update, Sharyl. Judicial Watch is an effective organization for the People. They hold our Federal Government to a “No one is above the law” standard that FEDGOV often espouses but frequently ignores.
Glad that you are following the case and keeping the public informed.
When I started my book, “Ashli: The Untold Story of the Women of January 6,” I thought I knew just about everything about J6. Huh? Not close. What needs more attention is how the powers that be reacted to Ashli’s martyrdom, namely by creating a martyr of their own. They caught a break on January 7 when Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died after suffering what would prove to be a pair of strokes. Someone in authority—the New York Times would cite “two law enforcement officials”—made the conscious decision to wed Sicknick’s death to the rumored death of an officer by fire extinguisher. On January 8, the New York Times told its readers that “pro-Trump rioters” were the ones who struck Sicknick with a fire extinguisher. The Times added this chillingly fraudulent detail: “With a bloody gash in his head, Mr. Sicknick was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support.”
While the murder of Alishi Babitt is tragic, she was not the only person killed that day. Rosanne Boyland was trampled and died as a result of not receiving proper medical care as the Capital police first blocked others from attempts to get her out of the tunnel and rendering first aid, then they pulled her back into the tunnel where they failed to get her medical attention. Her death is attributed to the Capital police failing in multiple ways.
RIP Alishi and Rosanne
Did you ever think a government employee, a man, could murder an unarmed woman, and that man faced no charges and just walked away from it, lah de dah! Welcome to America folks. Unfricking believable…period!