Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by a Capitol police officer during the January 6th protests.  Babbitt was a veteran of the United States Air Force and was deployed to Afghanistan and Kuwait.  Despite being unarmed and the officer who shot her being on the other side of a door where he had ample opportunity to retreat, the officer was cleared of all charges after an internal investigation.  Now, it has been revealed that the police officer who shot her, U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, did not agree to an interview during the investigation.  The Epoch Times Reports

“Investigators cleared Byrd of wrongdoing in the shooting without actually interviewing him about the shooting or threatening him with punishment if he did not cooperate with their criminal investigation.

“He didn’t provide any statement to [criminal] investigators and they didn’t push him to make a statement,” Babbitt family attorney Terry Roberts said in an RCI interview. “It’s astonishing how skimpy his investigative file is.”

Roberts, who has spoken with the D.C. MPD detective assigned to the case, said the kid-glove treatment of Byrd raises suspicions the investigation was a “whitewash.”

The lawyer’s account appears to be backed up by a January 2021 internal affairs report, which notes Byrd “declined to provide a statement,” D.C. MPD documents show.

Asked about it, a D.C. MPD spokeswoman confirmed that Byrd did not cooperate with internal affairs agents or FBI agents, who jointly investigated what was one of the most high-profile officer-involved shooting cases in U.S. history.

“MPD did not formally interview Lt. Byrd,” deputy D.C. MPD communications director Kristen Metzger said. And, “He didn’t give a statement while under the U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation.”

 

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