The Three "Medical Deaths" In The Capitol Protest Are Not Trump's, Or The Protesters', Fault
01/07/2021
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The Washington Times report on the shooting of an unarmed white woman named Ashli Babbitt says the officer who shot her is on leave, but said officer is not identified by name, race, or even sex: "The officer, who has not been identified, will have their police powers suspended while awaiting the outcome of a joint investigation between the Capitol Police and Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department." [Capitol Police officer who shot, killed woman during protest placed on administrative leave, by Jeff Mordock,  January 7, 2021]

It also mentions three "medical deaths":

Three other people died from “medical emergencies” during Wednesday’s siege of the Capitol, acting Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee III said.

Chief Contee identified the three individuals as: Benjamin Philips, 50, of Ringtown, Pennsylvania; Kevin Greeson, 55, of Athens, Alabama; and Roseanne Boyland, 34, of Kennesaw, Georgia.

The police chief didn’t provide any additional information about the individuals, who died on and around the Capitol grounds.

They're all white Trump supporters.

One man, 50-year-old Benjamin Philips, died,of a stroke, not apparently caused by any external factors. [ Pennsylvania man among four dead following pro-Trump assault on Capitol, by Laurie Mason Schroeder, Daniel Patrick Sheehan, Tom Shortell and Michelle Merlin, The Morning Call, January 7, 2021]

Alabaman Kevin Greeson, 55, had an ordinary heart attack. [An Alabama man who suffered a heart attack outside the Capitol is among the dead, by Adam Goldman, NYT, January 7, 2021]

Roseanne Boyland, 34, according to her family, died of being "trampled". I don't know the full circumstances, but people dying of being trampled are generally blamed on poor police crowd control.

Police could have either prevented, with massive infusions of force, an invasion at all, or they could have done what the Wisconsin Capitol Police did when their capitol was occupied, or what the same Capitol Police did during a Kavanaugh-inspired invasion of the Senate Office Building  which is just let them in, without killing anyone. They did neither:

On the streets of Washington, federal law enforcement agencies and the National Guard — which had been intimidatingly visible during protests [ !] this summer following the death of George Floyd — kept a much lower profile.

And at the Capitol itself, police had set out low barriers and officers were largely in street uniforms, not riot gear. All were prepared to confine a protest, but not to deter an attack, law enforcement officials said.

Law enforcement experts said they were mystified by the tactics that police used once the mob was already inside the Capitol.

Capitol breach prompts urgent questions about security failures, by Carol D. Leonnig,  Aaron C. Davis,  Dan Lamothe and  David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post, January 7, 2021

And reports that a Capitol Police officer was killed seem to be false:

The Daily Mail, which provided the photo above, has more details, although entirely the wrong tone. ("MAGA fanatics".)

Please remember that after Charlottesville, they not only blamed all the attendants for the death of Heather Heyer, but they tried to blame the Unite The Right marchers for the deaths of two policemen who died  when a Virginia State Police helicopter crashed near Charlottesville, killing both. [Three dead after white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, by Kamala Karkar, August 12, 2017]

The marchers did nothing to cause the helicopter crash, it just....crashed. [Helicopter pilot in fatal Charlottesville crash lost control and lacked key training from state, NTSB says, by Michael Laris, July 15, 2020]

These deaths are going to be blamed on the Right, or Trump in the same way.

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