WASHINGTON — The longtime partner of fallen U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick has filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.
Sandra Garza and Brian Sicknick were together for 11 years. The pair shared a home in Northern Virginia and two dachshunds, Pebbles and Sparky.
Garza told WUSA9 during an interview in 2021 that six months before his death, the two separated due to their different feelings on marriage, however, the two remained best friends.
The last conversation the two would have would consist of Sicknick asking Garza to take care of their dogs while he was at work at the Capitol on January 6.
Sicknick would not return home. The 42-year-old officer died after an insurrectionist mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. On February 3, 2021, United States Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was laid to rest with full honors – memorialized in the same US Capitol Rotunda he fought to protect.
According to court documents, the lawsuit accuses Trump and co-conspirators of using a campaign of lies and incendiary rhetoric that led to the ransacking of the U.S. Capitol as part of an insurrectionist effort and ultimately the wrongful death of Sicknick.
Garza is also suing Julian Khater and George Tanios. The lawsuit names them as participants of the insurrectionist effort that Sicknick died while trying to stop.
"Although it is beyond question Defendant Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, he still remains unwilling to accept defeat, He lied to his followers by, among other things, telling them that the certification of Joe Biden’s election was a 'coup' and that their country was being stolen from them. He filed dozens of frivolous lawsuits, all of which substantively failed. And he tried to intimidate state officials, none of whom caved to the pressure, the lawsuit reads. Out of options and out of time, Defendant Trump finally called his supporters to Washington, D.C. on the day Congress met to certify President-elect Biden’s win, telling them to 'Stop the Steal' and that the day 'will be wild.' Tens of thousands of his supporters came to the District in response, including Defendants Khater and Tanios. Some, including Defendants Khater and Tanios, planned violence at the U.S. Capitol in advance; some were stirred to violence by Defendant Trump’s words on that day."
The court document goes on to say Sicknick and hundreds of other officers were put in mortal danger as Trump watched the events "unfold on live television from the safety of the White House."
The lawsuit alleges Trump was "delighted" as well as "confused about why other people weren't as excited as he was."
Read the full lawsuit below:
The lawsuit requests $10 million in damages be paid by each of the named defendants in addition to punitive damages and the cover of attorneys fees and costs for the investigation and prosecution.
President Joe Biden is expected to present the nation's second-highest civilian award to 12 people involved in defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, including a posthumous award to Sicknick.