US President Joe Biden paid a last solemn tribute on Tuesday, February 2, to the policeman killed after the assault on Congress, whose remains were on display on Capitol Hill, an exceptional honor.
The Democrat, accompanied by the First Lady, bowed his head and raised his hand to his heart in front of the altar containing the officer’s ashes, displayed in the rotunda of the US Parliament for several hours. The flags of the Capitol had previously been half-masted.
Agent Brian Sicknick, 42, succumbed to injuries sustained in clashes with supporters of former President Donald Trump during their violent intrusion on Capitol Hill on January 6.
Hit on the head with a fire extinguisher
Sicknick was reportedly punched in the head with a fire extinguisher as he battled rioters swarming the halls of Congress to overturn the process to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.
This Congressional Protection Force member then returned to his office where he collapsed and was taken to hospital, Capitol Police said. He died the next day, the same source said, which brought the number of dead in this attack on the Capitol to five.
Only four other people before Brian Sicknick had been celebrated in the Capitol Rotunda: Reverend Billy Graham, civil rights icon Rosa Parks, and two other Capitol policemen, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, killed in a shootout in the building in 1998.
Four days after the Jan.6 attack, hundreds of off-duty police lined up on Constitution Avenue in Washington to greet the passing hearse carrying Mr. Sicknick’s body.