Death of DC Police Officer Who Committed Suicide 9 Days After January 6 Capitol Riot Ruled Line-of-Duty Death

 

The death of the Capitol police officer who took his own life after responding to the January 6 riot has been recognized by the District of Columbia as line-of-duty death on Monday.

Jeffrey Smith committed suicide on January 15th, nine days after the protests on January 6.  He did not leave a message before he took his life.

District of Columbia’s Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Relief Board ruled out that Police Officer Jeffrey Smith “sustained a personal injury on January 6, 2021, while performing his duties and that his injury was the sole and direct cause of his death,” CNN reported.

This ruling made his widow qualified for enhanced survivor benefits, including an annuity equal to his husband’s pay.

Far-left CNN reported:

The widow of Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith has won a months-long fight to have her husband’s death declared in the line of duty, following his suicide days after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

According to a letter obtained exclusively by CNN, the District of Columbia’s Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Relief Board has found that Smith “sustained a personal injury on January 6, 2021, while performing his duties and that his injury was the sole and direct cause of his death.”

The ruling makes his family eligible to receive benefits.

The board issued an order to Erin Smith on Wednesday night vacating the previous decision to deny her survivor’s benefits, granting her an annuity equal to her late husband’s pay.

Erin Smith had petitioned the Retirement and Relief Board last year to declare her husband’s suicide a line-of-duty death.

Her attorney, David P. Weber, produced video evidence for the board that showed Jeffrey Smith being assaulted… and hit in the head with a metal pole on January 6. He died nine days later, after he shot himself in the head while driving to work from his home in Virginia. It was supposed to be his first day back after seeking medical attention for the injuries and mental trauma he suffered on January 6.

“This was a forensic death investigation from the beginning,” said Weber, who is also a forensic accounting professor at Salisbury University in Maryland. “At the beginning, we didn’t know what happened to Officer Smith. We took the evidence from the autopsy, expert witnesses, body camera footage and federal subpoenas to prove that Jeff suffered a traumatic brain injury on January 6.”