Ashli Babbitt’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Friday against the U.S. government, alleging a Capitol Police officer was negligent and did not have legal justification to shoot and kill her during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The lawsuit asking for $30 million, brought by the conservative group Judicial Watch on behalf of Babbitt’s family, takes aim at the officer who shot Babbitt, Michael Byrd, along with the Capitol Police for negligent supervision and training.
The Justice Department declined to bring charges and the Capitol Police cleared Byrd, who has since been promoted to captain. The Capitol Police is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
