PowerLine Posted on October 16, 2021 by John Hinderaker
Following a FOIA request and a lawsuit, Judicial Watch has obtained around 500 pages of documents from the D.C. Metropolitan Police that relate to the shooting of Ashli Babbitt during the January 6 riot. The documents are
here; you can read them and make of them what you will. Judicial Watch’s commentary on the materials is
here.
The most significant documents are the statements taken from the other law enforcement personnel who were on the scene at the time of the shooting. They vividly convey the chaos of the moment, driven by the conduct of the rioters and also by a report of shots fired inside the Capitol that turned out to be false. The officers were badly outnumbered and feared, legitimately, for their own safety. At the same time, none described anything like an imminent threat. The statements describe Lieutenant Byrd as distraught after the shooting, and also depict the frantic effort that officers made to save Babbitt’s life.
I think these statements can reasonably be interpreted to suggest that Lieutenant Byrd’s shooting of Babbitt was a mistake. As noted, none of the officers describes what he perceived as an imminent threat coming from any of the rioters, let alone Babbitt. Several of the other officers say that they considered using non-lethal force, but decided against it. And they all seem to have been surprised by Byrd’s shooting of Babbitt, although they don’t put it that way. What they do say is that they weren’t sure what had happened, and didn’t know, at first, whether Babbitt had been shot by one of the rioters or by an officer.
For example:
A. … That, that one individual who punched the glass, he was obviously the most noticeable. She [Babbitt] would easily be my second, second…
Q. Second, why?
A. Possible. Uh, she’s very passionate about the, what she was doing.
Q. Okay.
A. And, um, violent as well.
Q. And when you say she was violent, um, what was she doing that you interpreted as being violent, or, uh, uh, whatever?
A. So obviously, the, the highlight, I guess, is the individual punching the glass, but then below that person, she’s just waving her hands, screaming and yelling, um…
Q. Threatening you in any way?
A. No.
More:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/10/documents-in-ashli-babbitt-shooting-produced.php
