Capitol Police Officer Who Killed Ashli Babbitt has never been interviewed. Will there ever be a real investigation?
Suggested host intro: It’s been just over one year since millions of people watched viral videos of January 6 Capitol Demonstrator and veteran U.S. soldier Ashli Babbitt getting shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer. What’s shocking to anyone who watched was the shooter was safely insulated from the unarmed demonstrators. He shot her through a plate-glass window. And to this day, he has not been interviewed in person yet exonerated from all wrongdoing. Why? Joining us in this discussion is police officer Michael Letts, founder, and CEO of InVest USA, a charity providing active shooter vests to police and other first responders.
Q&A:
- The unarmed Ashli Babbitt was not a threat to Capitol Police, as seen by millions of people in the viral videos showing a Capitol Police officer lethally shooting her from the inside of the Capitol through a pane glass window. What justification, if any, did that officer have for taking the life of an unarmed demonstrator?
Answer: There is no justification.
- How can an inquiry/ investigation on the use of deadly force be conducted without interviewing the officer involved?
Answer: A credible investigation can’t be conducted properly without questioning all parties, witnesses, and those associated with the incident involved.
- On January 17, 2022, the Epoch Times reported that Ashli Babbitt desperately tried to prevent rioters from vandalizing the doors leading to the Speaker’s Lobby at the U.S. Capitol. What do you know about that?
Answer: According to video analysis, Ashli is a heroic veteran U.S. soldier who went so far as to step between one troublemaker and police officers guarding the doors. She was not the demon the mass media made her out to be. Frame-by-frame video evidence analyzed by The Epoch Times paints a vastly different picture of Babbitt’s actions than the false portrayal by many in the mainstream media depicting her as “violent,” or a “rioter,” or an “insurrectionist” who was angrily trying to breach the Speaker’s Lobby. Video clips show she tried to prevent the attack, not join it.
- What is your opinion as to why the officer was not interviewed?
Answer: A logical assumption would be either a sloppy oversight (not likely with such a high profile case), or an effort to protect incriminating evidence.
- What should be done to make this more in line with standard justifiable use of force inquiry?
Answer: Reopen the case with an outside, independent agency.
- Reopening the case is an interesting idea. What has to happen to proceed with reopening the case?
Answer: There must be a reason that the investigating agency, prosecutor’s office, court, etc. needs to consider for that case to be reopened. In this case, the fact that the person in question (the officer who used deadly force), was not interviewed leaves grave doubts as to what statement or evidence led to the justifiable use of deadly force finding.
- What party should call to reopen the case?
Answer: An investigation should have been called and performed by an outside agency with findings of fact and justification submitted to the prosecutor’s office for concurrence on the recommended action. Since it is a federal agency in question (U.S.Capital Police), Congress should use its oversight authority and reopen an investigation into the death of Ashli Babbitt.
- Has a police case like this ever been reopened?
Answer: The Philadelphia Tribune recently reported that the attorney general of Maine declined 14 years ago to prosecute the police officer who had killed Gregori Jackson, a drunk passenger who fled on foot from a routine traffic stop in the town of Waldoboro. “Legally justified,” the attorney general ruled.
It was nearly 11 years ago that the district attorney in Westchester County, New York, found no crime when an officer, claiming he was about to be run over, had fired at Danroy Henry Jr., 20. He had bumped his Nissan Altima into the officer outside a bar while police responded to an unrelated scuffle inside. (“No reasonable cause” to indict, the grand jury concluded.)
And it was two years ago that the Los Angeles County prosecutor cleared the officers who had shot Christopher De’Andre Mitchell, 23. He had been in the driver’s seat of a stolen vehicle with an air rifle between his knees. (“Acted lawfully in self-defense,” the district attorney wrote.)
Now, in the aftermath of protests over racial justice and police abuse, new prosecutors are taking a previously rare step: They are reopening investigations into all three deadly car stops, asking whether the use of force was justified or if the officers should face criminal charges. Henry and Mitchell were Black, and Jackson was white. So, it’s plausible and advisable for the case to be reopened to investigate the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt. But this time, he actually needs to be interviewed.
9) Tell us about your charitable organization that helps police and where we may find more information on how to help our First Responders in our communities?
Answer: Visit www.investusa.org.
CONTACT: To schedule an interview, contact Jerry McGlothlin at Special Guests PR Agency at jerry.specialguests@gmail.com or Celinda Hawkins at jerry.specialguests@gmail.com.
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