Judicial Watch Sues DC for Records about the U.S. Capitol Police Shooting Death of Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today announced that it filed a District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the DC government for police and medical examiner records concerning the U.S. Capitol Police shooting death of Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, including the police and medical examiner investigations (Judicial Watch v. The District of Columbia (No. 2021 CA 001710 B)).

The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia after the District of Columbia failed to respond to an April 8, 2021, FOIA request submitted to the Metropolitan Police Department and to an administrative appeal concerning an April 8, 2021, FOIA request to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The request to the police department asks for:

All records, including but not limited to investigative reports, photographs, witness statements, dispatch logs, schematics, ballistics, video footage, and MPD officials’ electronic communications, concerning the January 6, 2021, death of Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol Building and its related investigation.

The request to the Chief Medical Examiner asks for:

All records, including but not limited to autopsy reports, toxicology reports, notes, photographs, and OCME officials’ electronic communications, related to the death on Jan. 6, 2021, of Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol Building and its related investigation.

Babbitt was shot and killed by an unidentified law enforcement officer as she attempted to climb through a broken interior window in the Capitol Building, located outside the Speaker’s Lobby off the House Floor during the January 6 disturbance. She was unarmed. At the time of the shooting, several officers reportedly can be seen in videos, standing in the crowd of protestors in which Babbitt was present.

“The normal course of action in a police-related shooting is to quickly inform the public of the details – but the lack of transparency in the killing of veteran Ashli Babbitt in the U.S. Capitol is unprecedented and obviously political,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “That Judicial Watch must file a lawsuit for basic information after five months of stonewalling is a scandal.”

Judicial Watch has several lawsuits regarding January 6.

Judicial Watch recently sued the Pentagon and the U.S. Park Police for information on deployment of troops and warnings about the January 6 U.S. Capitol disturbance.

In March 2021, Judicial Watch filed suit against the U.S. Department of Defense for records about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s January 8, 2021, telephone call with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.

Pressure from a March 2021 Judicial Watch lawsuit helped lead to the disclosure that Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes.

In February 2021, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the Capitol Police for emails and video related to the January 6 riot.

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