The anonymous Capitol Police officer who shot and killed decorated Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt has been cleared of any wrongdoing following an internal investigation by the Office of Personal Responsibility.
The name of the officer has yet to be released, unlike in several high-profile police shootings of unarmed civilians in cities across the country where the officer’s name and picture were immediately made available to the press.
Babbitt was shot as she was trying to push through a set of double doors that led to the House chamber.
The Justice Department announced in April that no charges were being brought against the officer. The exoneration by the Capitol Police wraps up the last remaining investigation into the incident.
A memo from the commander of the Capitol Police’s Office of Personal Responsibility says “no further action will be taken in this matter” after the officer was exonerated for use of force.
The Capitol Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Babbitt’s family declined to comment.
There has been no uproar over the shooting death of Babbitt at the hands of the police. There have been no calls for “justice,” no marchers screaming “No Justice! No Peace!” There have been no riots in cities around the country in which federal buildings were been vandalized.
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There has been no outrage over her death among the mainstream media largely because Babbitt held kooky, wrong-headed views about QAnon, Donald Trump, and other right-wing conspiracies. Apparently, that gave justification, in the eyes of the left, for the police officer to shoot her down.
In its statement in April, the Justice Department said that the investigation did not find evidence that the officer had violated any federal laws and that there was nothing to contradict that he believed it was necessary to shoot at Babbitt, 35, “in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.”
“Officials examined video footage posted on social media, statements from the officer involved and other officers and witnesses to the events, physical evidence from the scene of the shooting, and the results of an autopsy,” and “based on that investigation, officials determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution,” the statement added.
Was the Capitol Police officer in imminent danger of death or were any congressmen in imminent danger of being overwhelmed and assaulted? We can’t know everything that transpired at the time by viewing one video, but it doesn’t appear to be so.
Unlike when white police officers shoot unarmed black men, the officer who shot Ashil Babbitt was not publicly fingered and abandoned by political leaders in Washington. We don’t even officially know who he/she is.
I guess that “transparency” and “justice” are a one-way street and only some rioters are deserving of our sympathy.
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