The cop killed during the Capitol riots was also a President Trump supporter — and his father hopes his death will now help stop “the lunacy” crippling the US.
Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick was pepper-sprayed before he was bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher while tackling fellow Trump supporters who stormed the Senate to stop the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election victory, his father told Reuters.
Ambulance crews resuscitated the New Jersey native twice as he was rushed to a nearby hospital, but Sicknick died the next day — one of five fatalities during the day of disgrace.
“He ended up with a clot on the brain,” his father, Charles Sicknick, told the wire service. “If they had operated on him, he would’ve become a vegetable.”
The cop, a South River native, was himself a Trump supporter, although the President has yet to contact the family, his father said.
Vice President Mike Pence did call the family, however, as did House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who invited the family to the Capitol to pick a spot for a plaque in Sicknick’s honor.
Despite his support for Trump, the officer never let his political views interfere — and his first big assignment was working at former President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, his father said.
“He loved his job,” the elder Sicknick said. “He just got along real well with everybody because he was a gentleman.”
The grieving dad said he avoided talking politics with his son, but hopes that the shock of his death will bring change.
“If any good comes out of my son’s death, I just hope that it stops all the lunacy that’s been going on in this country,” his father said, without elaborating.
“I’m supposed to die first. Not my son,” the 82-year-old dad said. “I’ll never get over this.”
Sicknick’s death is being investigated as a homicide by the Washington Metropolitan Police. The FBI is assisting.
Before joining the Capitol police in 2008, he had served with the Air National Guard and was deployed to Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan.
“His death was a waste,” said John Krenzel, the mayor of Sicknick’s hometown in South River, New Jersey. “It’s just a tragedy.”
With Post wires