A 69-year-old Jan. 6 aggressor was ordered to pay $500,000 to the family of a Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer who died by suicide nine days after defending the U.S. Capitol from MAGA loyalists attempting to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
A federal jury ruled Monday that chiropractor David Walls-Kaufman owes $380,000 in punitive damages and $60,000 in compensatory damages to the wife of fallen cop Jeffrey Smith. The defendant, who said he was “stunned” by the verdict, was also ordered to pay $60,000 to the 35-year-old officer’s estate for pain and suffering.
Walls-Kaufman spent 60 days in prison after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor related to the siege on the Capitol in January 2023, but claimed he never struck Smith. Jurors last week found that Smith’s bodycam footage supports claims by his widow, Erin Smith, that the defendant assaulted the victim.
Smith was returning to work for the first time after the Capitol riot when he shot himself in his car with his service weapon. His wife claimed Walls-Kaufman inflicted a head injury upon her husband that led to his suicide by striking the cop with his own police baton. The defense claimed another Capitol invader later in the clash struck the wounded officer with a pole. The court was told Smith had no history of mental illness.
The suit against Walls-Kaufman stated the District of Columbia Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Relief Board found the injury he sustained Jan. 6 was the “sole and direct cause” of Smith’s death.
Upon becoming the President of the United States for the second time in January, President Trump immediately pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 1,500 people charged with fighting to help him stay in power after being defeated in the 2020 election. The President called supporters who fought law enforcement the day Smith was injured “warriors” and referred to Jan. 6 as “a day of love.”
Law enforcement officials said around 140 officers were injured in the attack. Four officers who served that day later died by suicide, according to Reuters.
With News Wire Services
