Officer Sicknick 'Killed by Fire Extinguisher'
■ The claim
Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was reported to have died after rioters struck him with a fire extinguisher on January 6.
■ What actually happened
On January 8, 2021, the Times reported, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, that Sicknick had been hit with a fire extinguisher. The claim spread widely. On February 16 the Times added an update saying officials now disputed whether he was struck at all. In April 2021, the D.C. Chief Medical Examiner ruled that he died of strokes and that the manner of death was natural. Capitol Police said he still died in the line of duty.
■ The proof
D.C. Chief Medical Examiner ruling (April 2021): strokes caused by a blood clot, natural manner of death. The ME uses 'natural' only when disease alone causes death, not when an injury hastens it.
■ Original reporting
- New York Times: Capitol police officer dies (Jan. 8, 2021; later updated)https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/police-officer-killed-capitol.html
- Anchorage Daily News: Officer dies after being struck with fire extinguisher, officials sayhttps://www.adn.com/nation-world/2021/01/08/capitol-officer-dies-after-being-struck-in-head-with-fire-extinguisher-during-pro-trump-insurrection-officials-say/
■ Corrections, findings & records
- WTOP: Medical examiner says Sicknick died of stroke; death ruled naturalhttps://wtop.com/dc/2021/04/medical-examiner-capitol-police-officer-sicknick-died-of-stroke-death-ruled-natural
- Snopes: The fire extinguisher claim and the NYT's Feb. 16 updatehttps://snopes.com/fact-check/brian-sicknick-fire-extinguisher/
- PolitiFact: Update, Sicknick died of natural causeshttps://www.politifact.com/article/2021/apr/20/update-capitol-police-officer-sicknick-died-natura
■ Wayback Machine copies
Stories sometimes get edited after publication. These links open the Internet Archive's earliest snapshot of each original.
- Archive copy: New York Times: Capitol police officer dies (Jan. 8, 2021; later updated)https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/police-officer-killed-capitol.html
- Archive copy: Anchorage Daily News: Officer dies after being struck with fire extinguisher, officials sayhttps://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2021/01/08/capitol-officer-dies-after-being-struck-in-head-with-fire-extinguisher-during-pro-trump-insurrection-officials-say/
■ Grade
DEBUNKED: Shown false by evidence or official findings, whether or not the outlet corrected it. How we grade →