Almost three months to the day since the January 6th Capitol riots, the medical examiner released the causes of death for the four people who died at some point during the melee.
According to Washington, D.C. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Francisco J. Diaz, Kevin Greeson, 55, and Benjamin Phillips, 50, died from natural causes (a heart attack). Ashli Babbitt, 35, died from a gunshot wound to her left shoulder. Roseanne Boyland, 34, died from a drug overdose:
The cause of death for Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died the following night, is still under investigation.
It should be noted that in the case of Roseanne Boyland’s death, the medical examiner’s findings were very much at odds with prior New York Times reporting on how she died. Instead of waiting and basing their report on the medical examiner’s official results, they went off of video footage they had reviewed. Here’s what they reported less than two weeks after the riots:
Rosanne Boyland, a 34-year-old Trump supporter from Georgia who died during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, appears to have been killed in a crush of fellow rioters during their attempt to fight through a police line, according to videos reviewed by The Times.Though the videos have circulated widely, Ms. Boyland’s presence in them had gone unnoticed until now, and the manner of her death had previously been unclear. The videos show her body on the ground just outside a door on the Capitol’s west side that was the scene of some of the day’s worst violence.[…]In the chaos, two men spotted Ms. Boyland on the ground and dragged her away from the door.The men laid Ms. Boyland out on the steps and attempted to resuscitate her. At least two individuals can be seen on video providing CPR. At the top of the steps, another man, wearing a purple jacket, can be seen apparently negotiating with the police so that the rioters can get Ms. Boyland assistance.
Considering how badly they messed up reporting on Ms. Boyland’s death as well as that of Officer Sicknick, questions are rightly being raised as to just what other reporting the New York Times has gotten wrong about the Capitol riots:
Also, it’s just amazing that we’re this far out from when the riots happened and Officer Sicknick’s family still doesn’t have the answers they’ve been searching for.
Not only that, but we still haven’t been made aware of all the details surrounding Ms. Babbitt’s shooting death. Even though unnamed investigators determined in early February that no charges be filed against the Capitol police officer who reportedly shot her, the American people – Ms. Babbitt’s family, most of all – are still owed a full accounting as to exactly what happened, especially considering how much of the initial reporting and even much that came in the weeks after about what went down at the riots was seriously botched:
As they say, stay tuned.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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