A federal jury on Monday awarded $500,000 to the widow and property of a police officer who died by suicide 9 days after he helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of rioters, together with a person who scuffled with the officer in the course of the assault.
The eight-member jury ordered that man, 69-year-old chiropractor David Partitions-Kaufman, to pay $380,000 in punitive damages and $60,000 in compensatory damages to Erin Smith for assaulting her husband, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, contained in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They awarded a further $60,000 to compensate Jeffrey Smith’s property for his ache and struggling.
The choose presiding over the civil trial dismissed Erin Smith’s wrongful-death declare in opposition to Partitions-Kaufman earlier than jurors started deliberating final week. U.S. District Choose Ana Reyes stated no affordable juror might conclude that Partitions-Kaufman’s actions have been able to inflicting a traumatic mind damage resulting in Smith’s demise.
Partitions-Kaufman, who lived a number of blocks from the Capitol, denied assaulting Smith. He says any accidents that the officer suffered on Jan. 6 occurred later within the day, when one other rioter threw a pole that struck Smith round his head.
On Friday, the jury sided with Erin Smith and held Partitions-Kaufman answerable for assaulting her 35-year-old husband — an encounter captured on the officer’s physique digicam.
“Erin is grateful to obtain some measure of justice,” stated David P. Weber, one in all her attorneys.
Partitions-Kaufman stated the result of the trial is “completely ridiculous.”
“No crime occurred. I by no means struck the officer. I by no means meant to strike the officer,” he stated. “I am simply shocked.”
After the jury left the courtroom, Reyes inspired the events to confer and talk about a potential settlement to keep away from the time and expense of an attraction and for the sake of “finality.”
“You guys settle, you may transfer on along with your lives,” the choose stated.
Partitions-Kaufman’s lawyer, Hughie Hunt, described the jury’s award as “stunning.”
“We’re speaking a few three-second occasion,” he advised the choose.
“It is not stunning, Mr. Hunt. A whole lot of issues can occur in three seconds,” Reyes replied.
Jeffrey Smith was driving to work for the primary time after the Capitol riot when he shot himself together with his service weapon. His household stated he had no historical past of psychological well being issues earlier than the Jan. 6 riot. Erin Smith claims Partitions-Kaufman struck her husband within the head together with his personal police baton, giving him a concussion and inflicting psychological and bodily trauma that led to his suicide.
Physique digicam footage obtained by CBS News seems to point out that Jeffrey Smith was the goal of a number of assaults on Jan. 6, no less than as soon as contained in the Capitol after which once more a number of hours later — exterior on the west entrance of the Capitol. The pictures of the assault have been pivotal to Erin Smith’s efforts to vary the designation of her husband’s demise.
“I feel the bodily assault on him modified him,” Erin Smith told CBS News in 2022. “If he did not go to work that day, he’d nonetheless be right here.”
Jack Reznicki, picture supplied by Erin Smith
The police division medically evaluated Smith and cleared him to return to full obligation earlier than he died by suicide. In 2022, the District of Columbia Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Aid Board decided that Smith was injured within the line of obligation and the damage was the “sole and direct explanation for his demise,” in response to the lawsuit.
Partitions-Kaufman served a 60-day jail sentence after pleading responsible to a Capitol riot-related misdemeanor in January 2023, however he was pardoned in January. On his first day again within the White Home, President Donald Trump pardoned, commuted jail sentences or ordered the dismissal of circumstances for all of the nearly 1,600 people charged within the assault.
Greater than 100 law-enforcement officers have been injured in the course of the riot. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick collapsed and died a day after participating with the rioters. A medical expert later decided he suffered a stroke and died of pure causes. Howard Liebengood, a Capitol police officer who responded to the riot, additionally died by suicide after the assault.
Erin Smith’s quest is not over. She utilized for the Nationwide Regulation Enforcement Memorial so as to add her husband’s title as a line-of-duty demise. Weber stated they’re hoping for a choice quickly.
When you or somebody you realize is in emotional misery or suicidal disaster, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
For extra details about psychological well being care assets and assist, The Nationwide Alliance on Psychological Sickness (NAMI) HelpLine could be reached Monday by means of Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or electronic mail info@nami.org.