Police officer killed in storming of U.S. Capitol to lie in honor in Washington

[February 02, 2021]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The police officer killed when supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol last month trying to overturn the election results will lie in honor in the building's historic rotunda on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The body of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of his injuries the day after the Jan. 6 attack, will arrive at the rotunda on Tuesday evening and his fellow officers will begin viewing him at 10 p.m. ET (0300 GMT).

Hundreds of Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol, attacking police, smashing windows and sending lawmakers into hiding, after a fiery speech in which the then-president urged them to "fight" his election loss to President Joe Biden. Four others died in the violence.

The incident led to Trump's second impeachment; he will face trial in the Senate on a charge of inciting insurrection next week.

Since the 19th century, the caskets of about three dozen distinguished Americans have been honored at the Capitol. Twelve have been former presidents, who along with other government officials, judges and military leaders are said to "lie in state."

The category of "laying in honor" was created after two Capitol Police officers were fatally wounded in 1998 by a gunman who ran to the offices of then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay. Sicknick, who died at 42, is the fifth American to lay in honor at the rotunda. The other two were civil rights leader Rosa parks in 2005 and the Reverend Billy Graham in 2018.

U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, 40, poses in an undated photograph. United States Capitol Police/Handout via REUTERS.

Members of Congress will be able to view Sicknick on Wednesday morning. There will be a congressional tribute on Wednesday before a ceremonial departure.

Sicknick will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

In the Jan. 6 violence, Sicknick was pepper-sprayed and hit in the head, according to his father. An ambulance crew resuscitated him twice as he was rushed to a nearby hospital. He died the following day.

Sicknick, who had served in the New Jersey Air National Guard, joined the Capitol Police in 2008.

The Capitol remains shaken by the events, which have led to the erection of eight-foot-high fence around the complex as a temporary measure.

Acting Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman called last week for permanent fencing and back-up security forces near the building.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)

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