Two Men Arrested and Charged With Assaulting Brian Sicknick, Officer Who Died After Capitol Attack, With Bear Spray
Brian Sicknick. Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images.
Two men have been arrested and charged with assaulting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, the officer who died after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, with bear spray.
Julian Elie Khater and George Pierre Tanios, of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, respectively, were arrested on Sunday and are expected to appear in court on Monday, NBC News reported. They are charged with nine counts, including assaulting Sicknick and two other police officers with a deadly weapon, civil disorder, and obstruction of a Congressional proceeding. They face up to 20 years in prison.
Initial reports about Sicknick’s death — including one prominent piece from the New York Times — cited law enforcement sources who claimed the officer was killed after being struck by a fire extinguisher. The theory featured in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, despite having been dispelled by other reporting that investigators believed a chemical irritant like bear spray could have been to blame for his death.
Sicknick died one day after the Capitol attack, in which a horde of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol Building and violently clashed with police. His cause of death has not been determined, and the two men charged with assaulting him were not charged with his killing.
Court documents — obtained by Mediaite sister site Law&Crime — quote Khater as saying to Tanios, “Give me that bear shit,” in a video taken during the attack. Khater was allegedly caught on video spraying a canister into the faces of Sicknick and two other officers.
A tipster provided police with a photo of George Tanios at the Capitol Building on Jan. 6. The photo was posted on Facebook.
The documents outline the extent of the injuries sustained after the officers were attacked with the bear spray:
According to the documents, a tipster told the FBI that Tanios (seen below in the red hat) and Khater (in the blue Trump beanie) grew up together in New Jersey.
The pair are also charged with assaulting two other police officers, C. Edwards of the Capitol police and D. Chapman of the Metropolitan Police Department.
