It will come as no surprise to Americans that the news media has a penchant for the overly-dramatic. It will furthermore not shock anyone who is paying attention, that both the left and the right are searching, desperately, for some way to blame the other side.
What may well surprise voters is the notion that a person might be pronounced, announced, and otherwise broadcasted as dead, while still very much alive. Such was the case with Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick after he was involved in the rally in support of President Donald Trump last Wednesday.
Brian Sicknick followed his Air National Guard unit to Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, and a military base in his home state of New Jersey, all in the hopes of one day wearing a police uniform. It was a wish fulfilled more than 10 years ago when he joined the police department tasked with protecting the U.S. Capitol.
Then on Wednesday, pro-Trump rioters attacked that citadel of democracy, overpowered Mr. Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher, according to two law enforcement officials. With a bloody gash in his head, Mr. Sicknick was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support. He died on Thursday evening.
“Brian is a hero,” his brother Ken Sicknick said. “That is what we would like people to remember.”
That’s the story told by the “paper of record” in the United States. That’s how you’re supposed to see it, remember it, and order your life accordingly. A somewhat different story, however, was told by his family, once discrepancies were discovered by more discerning journalists.
“He texted me last night and said, ‘I got pepper-sprayed twice,’ and he was in good shape,” said Ken Sicknick, his brother, as the family drove toward Washington according to Pro Publica. “Apparently he collapsed in the Capitol and they resuscitated him using CPR.”
The officer’s family was concerned for their injured brother and began especially when they got word that Brian Sicknick had a blood clot and had had a stroke; a ventilator was keeping him alive.
“We weren’t expecting it,” his brother said. They were even more shocked when they got the news that their brother was dead, through a reporter calling.
“As apparently premature news of Sicknick’s death spread in law enforcement circles, the U.S. Capitol Police Department remained silent, including no response to an early request for confirmation from ProPublica on Thursday evening. The family learned from reporter phone calls that something was wrong,” the publication reported.
“We have not gotten any calls,” Ken Sicknick said when first contacted. Brian Sicknick was the youngest of three siblings, all boys. “We’re kind of overwhelmed right now. You guys are getting reports of his death before I even got anything.”
Journalists then began to report that despite the news media’s insistence that the officer had died, and the implication that he had died on the spot at the capitol building on Jan. 6,, he was still very much alive.
CSPAN Capitol Hill producer Craig Caplan tweeted at 7:21 pm on Jan. 7 that Sicknick was still very much alive and no officer had passed away, according to CP:
“US Capitol Police spox: ‘Media reports regarding the death of a United States Capitol Police (USCP) officer are not accurate. Although some officers were injured and hospitalized yesterday, no USCP officers have passed away.’”
According to USCP the officer did pass away at “approximately 9:30 p.m.” on Jan. 7.
While any death of an officer of the law is something worth mourning, it’s even more atrocious when it’s used to try and create negative publicity against the very people who gladly support the thin blue line.
Capitol Hill on Wednesday was a flurry of heightened emotions, and by most eyewitness accounts, only interrupted by those who were not legitimately there in support of Trump. That, however, will likely not be the story put into the record books, because narrative trumps truth, and agenda wins over integrity. The question is, how many lies will it take for those still being lied to realize the injustice.