Seeing as how Ashli Babbitt wasn’t an actual threat to anyone on January 6, 2021, she should never have had a gun pointed at her or fired at her. Yet, the man who shot and killed her wasn’t charged. He was never prosecuted, but he was recently promoted.
Jeffrey Rodack reports:
The Capitol Police officer, who shot and killed demonstrator Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6, 2021, protest, is set to be promoted from lieutenant to captain.
Roll Call reported that Michael Byrd’s planned promotion was announced by police in an internal memo.
Babbitt, 35, was fatally shot while attempting to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the office lobby of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi inside the Capitol.
Roll Call noted that Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was not armed.
The Justice Department made the decision not to bring criminal charges against Byrd, the outlet said. A probe by the Capitol Police’s Office of Professional Responsibility found Byrd’s conduct was “lawful and within Department policy.”
Some Republicans have characterized Babbitt’s death differently.
In February, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. said she wanted to use her position on the House Oversight Committee to investigate claims of “civil rights abuses” committed against Trump supporters arrested on Jan. 6 and review Babbitt’s shooting.
