The partner of a Capitol Police officer who died after being beaten by pro-Trump rioters during the January 6 insurgency received a letter of sympathy from Prince William.
Sandra Garza, Brian Sicknick’s 42-year-old girlfriend, stated on CNN that the Duke of Cambridge had written to her after the officer’s death.
Sicknick was one of the cops on duty who were outmanned by the crowd that attacked the US Capitol building, shattering windows and tearing down obstacles. He was sprayed with a chemical, fell, and died the next day from a stroke.
‘Please forgive me if I am intruding, but I wanted to write and express my condolences on the passing of your boyfriend, Brian,’ Prince William wrote to Garza in the letter.
Prince William said he had watched images of the “harrowing events” at the Capitol and wished to honor Sicknick’s “patriotism and devotion.”
‘By all accounts, Brian performed heroically while on duty and continued to do his hardest to safeguard those inside despite receiving injuries,’ the Duke wrote.
He said that he hoped it provided Garza some little solace to know that “the situation did not escalate further owing to law enforcement officers like Brian” and that “democracy was maintained.”
‘I know that words cannot provide you consolation at this terrible moment, but I wanted to let you know that Brian’s family is very much in my thoughts,’ Prince William said.
Former President Donald Trump, Garza told CNN, had not given her a condolence note.
‘Trump could care less about law enforcement or Brian, but Prince William went out of his way to respect me and Brian.’
In the days following the riots, two additional cops committed suicide, and more than 150 officers were injured, including one who suffered a heart attack and others who suffered traumatic brain injuries and severe impairments. Some employees may never return to work.
During the House Select Committee’s first primetime hearing on January 6, Capitol Hill Police Officer Caroline Edwards described’slipping in blood’ and rioters calling her “Nancy Pelosi’s dog” while guarding the Capitol Building.
Edwards witnessed Sicknick’s fall and was knocked out herself when a bike rack was thrown on her. The hit caused her to suffer a traumatic brain injury.
‘I was slipping in people’s blood,’ Edwards recalled, one of two in-person witnesses brought by the committee to speak in front of a Capitol Hill audience.
‘I was catching folks in the act of falling.’ It was a bloodbath. It was a complete disaster. I’m at a loss for words when it comes to describing what I observed. Never in my wildest fantasies did I see myself as a police officer in the heart of a conflict.’
She described what she saw as something out of a movie. The officer described what he witnessed as “simply a combat scenario.”
In the days following the riots, two additional cops committed suicide, and more than 150 officers were injured, including one who suffered a heart attack and others who suffered traumatic brain injuries and severe impairments. Some employees may never return to work.
During the House Select Committee’s first primetime hearing on January 6, Capitol Hill Police Officer Caroline Edwards described’slipping in blood’ and rioters calling her “Nancy Pelosi’s dog” while guarding the Capitol Building.
Edwards witnessed Sicknick’s fall and was knocked out herself when a bike rack was thrown on her. The hit caused her to suffer a traumatic brain injury.
‘I was slipping in people’s blood,’ Edwards recalled, one of two in-person witnesses brought by the committee to speak in front of a Capitol Hill audience.
‘I was catching folks in the act of falling.’ It was a bloodbath. It was a complete disaster. I’m at a loss for words when it comes to describing what I observed. Never in my wildest fantasies did I see myself as a police officer in the heart of a conflict.’
She described what she saw as something out of a movie. The officer described what he witnessed as “simply a combat scenario.”
‘I felt the bike rack come down on top of my head, and I was pushed backwards, and my foot grabbed the step behind me, and my chin struck the railing, and then I blacked out, but the back of my head smacked the concrete stairs behind me,’ she explained.
Cheney inquired if the cop had been knocked out, to which she replied affirmatively.
Edwards responded to Cheney’s second query, ‘Yes ma’am,’ when asked if she had returned to duty.
Edwards said she attempted to take control of the Capitol’s West Front but was overwhelmed. Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C. arrived to aid Edwards, causing him to fall behind the line.
‘I started decontaminating those who had been sprayed and treated others who required medical attention for a long,’ she remembered. ‘So I went back on the line after a bit, it was on the House side of the lower west stairs… and officer Sicknick was behind me,’ says the narrator.
‘All of a sudden, I notice movement to my left, and it’s officer Sicknick with his head in his hands with a ghostly pale complexion,’ she explained. ‘At that moment, I assumed he had been sprayed, and I was concerned. ‘The police alarms went off in my head.’
She said that if Sicknick had been sprayed with pepper spray, he would have turned red rather than pale.
The next day, Sicknick died. On Thursday night, members of his family were in the audience.
‘So I turned around to see what had occurred, what had hit him,’ she explained, ‘and that’s when I got sprayed in the eyes as well.’ ‘Another cop was supposed to decontaminate me, but we didn’t have a chance because I was tear-gassed.’
Sicknick became the sixth person in history to be laid to rest in the Capitol Rotunda, which is reserved for persons who are not elected officials, judges, or military leaders. At Arlington National Cemetery, he was laid to rest.