Jury orders man to pay $500K for assaulting Jan. 6 officer who killed himself after Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — A federal jury on Monday awarded $500,000 to the widow and property of a police officer who killed himself 9 days after he helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of rioters, together with a person who scuffled with the officer through the assault.
The eight-member jury ordered that man, 69-year-old chiropractor David Partitions-Kaufman, to pay $380,000 in punitive damages and $60,000 in compensatory damages to Erin Smith for assaulting her husband, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, contained in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They awarded an extra $60,000 to compensate Jeffrey Smith’s property for his ache and struggling.
The decide presiding over the civil trial dismissed Erin Smith’s wrongful-death declare towards Partitions-Kaufman earlier than jurors started deliberating final week. U.S. District Choose Ana Reyes stated no cheap juror may conclude that Partitions-Kaufman’s actions have been able to inflicting a traumatic mind harm resulting in Smith’s dying.
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On Friday, the jury sided with Erin Smith and held Partitions-Kaufman answerable for assaulting her 35-year-old husband — an encounter captured on the officer’s physique digicam.
“Erin is grateful to obtain some measure of justice,” stated David P. Weber, considered one of her attorneys.
Partitions-Kaufman stated the result of the trial is “completely ridiculous.”
“No crime occurred. I by no means struck the officer. I by no means supposed to strike the officer,” he stated. “I’m simply shocked.”
After the jury left the courtroom, Reyes inspired the events to confer and focus on a potential settlement to keep away from the time and expense of an enchantment and for the sake of “finality.”
“You guys settle, you’ll be able to transfer on along with your lives,” the decide stated.
Partitions-Kaufman’s legal professional, Hughie Hunt, described the jury’s award as “stunning.”
“We’re speaking a couple of three-second occasion,” he instructed the decide.
“It’s not stunning, Mr. Hunt. Loads of issues can occur in three seconds,” Reyes replied.
Jeffrey Smith was driving to work for the primary time after the Capitol riot when he shot and killed himself along with his service weapon. His household stated he had no historical past of psychological well being issues earlier than the Jan. 6 riot. Erin Smith claims Partitions-Kaufman struck her husband within the head along with his personal police baton, giving him a concussion and inflicting psychological and bodily trauma that led to his suicide.
Partitions-Kaufman, who lived a number of blocks from the Capitol, denied assaulting Smith. He says any accidents that the officer suffered on Jan. 6 occurred later within the day, when one other rioter threw a pole that struck Smith round his head.
The police division medically evaluated Smith and cleared him to return to full responsibility earlier than he killed himself. In 2022, the District of Columbia Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Aid Board decided that Smith was injured within the line of responsibility and the harm was the “sole and direct explanation for his dying,” based on the lawsuit.
Partitions-Kaufman served a 60-day jail sentence after pleading responsible to a Capitol riot-related misdemeanor in January 2023, however he was pardoned in January. On his first day again within the White Home, President Donald Trump pardoned, commuted jail sentences or ordered the dismissal of instances for the entire practically 1,600 individuals charged within the assault.
Greater than 100 law-enforcement officers have been injured through the riot. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick collapsed and died a day after participating with the rioters. A health worker later decided he suffered a stroke and died of pure causes. Howard Liebengood, a Capitol police officer who responded to the riot, additionally died by suicide after the assault.