Jan. 2 (UPI) — A federal judge has dismissed part of a lawsuit, including a wrongful death claim against former President Donald Trump, filed by the partner of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick who died after the Jan. 6, 2021 riots.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in a split decision Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that Sicknick’s partner, Sandra Garza, can proceed on two of the five counts in her civil lawsuit against Trump and two Jan. 6 protesters over the officer’s death, but that Garza lacked the standing to bring three of the claims because she was not Sicknick’s spouse.
“Garza’s contention that a ‘domestic partnership’ was established simply by officer Sicknick having identified Garza as his ‘domestic partner’ in his will finds no basis in the plain text of the statutes,” Mehta wrote. “Garza therefore cannot recover the damages she personally seeks under the act.”
Specifically, Mehta dismissed the wrongful death and negligence civil counts against Trump. Garza’s claims under D.C.’s Survival Act will be allowed to proceed, since Garza is the representative of Sicknick’s estate.
Garza filed the lawsuit against Trump, Julian Khater and George Tanios on Jan. 5, 2023, two years after the attacks, in a civil suit seeking $10 million in damages from each defendant.
Khater and Tanios were charged with carrying out the chemical spray assault on Sicknick. Khater pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting officers and was sentenced to more than six years in prison. Tanios was sentenced to time served after admitting to purchasing the spray.
Sicknick, 42, died one day after the riots. Washington’s chief medical examiner ruled three months later that Sicknick had died of natural causes after having suffered two strokes. The autopsy found no evidence that Sicknick had suffered an allergic reaction to the chemical spray and no evidence of internal or external injury.
“We are pleased to see that our lawsuit in pursuit of justice for the late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, has been permitted to continue,” said Mark Zaid, one of the attorneys representing Garza. “We are now considering our next step options, to include deposing former President Trump.”
