Cop Who Killed Ashli Babbitt Was Cleared of Criminal Wrongdoing Without Interview

realclearpolitics.com ^ | 1/11/2022

[bitt]

When U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd went on “NBC Nightly News” to tell his side of shooting and killing unarmed Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt, he made a point to note he’d been investigated by several agencies and exonerated for his actions that day.

“There’s an investigative process [and] I was cleared by the DOJ [Department of Justice], and FBI and [the D.C.] Metropolitan Police,” he told NBC News anchor Lester Holt in August, adding that the Capitol Police also cleared him of wrongdoing and decided not to discipline or demote him for the shooting.

Byrd then answered a series of questions by Holt about the shooting, but what he told the friendly journalist, he likely never told investigators. That’s because he refused to answer their questions, according to several sources and documents reviewed by RealClearInvestigations.

In fact, 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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[centermass_socrates]

What a murderous piece of shit.

[kanawa]

grrrrr...

[ArcadeQuarters]

Intentionally shot an unarmed woman and the deep state is OK with that.

[Bob Ireland]

***Cop Who Killed Ashli Babbitt Was Cleared of Criminal Wrongdoing***

😠 Not by me!

[NoLibZone]

We have the government we deserve.

[DoughtyOne]

He needs to be prosecuted.

There’s no way this was a good shoot > IMO.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Absolutely a violation of police procedures.

[from occupied ga]

Like I said when it first happened - it would be ruled a “good shoot”. I go with the odds 99999:1 with the 1 being the chance of it being anything but a good shoot.

[DesertRhino]

“Yeah, it’s called the fifth amendment, and it applies to cops as well. “

Yeah, it’s called a Garrity warning and cops are almost always compelled to give a statement as a condition of employment. It cannot be used on the criminal side, but it IS used to see if they complied with training, policies, and procedures because it was compelled. Failure to sit for that interview is cause for termination.

[LeoWindhorse]

Byrd = murdering orick.

Woman killer .

What come round go round

[Ikeon]

The capital police are goons. I had 2 close personal friends that were capital police, one admin, one a shift captain, both a bit off, they finally went bananas and lost most normalcy with me when PDJT was elected. They never were the same again.

[Candor7]

Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.

This is the face of a fascist murderer.

And there are thousands like him lined up to serve the fascist Dem Party, Racial Nationalist Socialists of America.

They now control election voting, the media, education, FBI and the DOJ. Soon they will control the military, of which they now have only partial control.

Its time. We either de -elect these fascist ba$tards or there will be a Civil war, red states against the federal government.It will be short, violent and deadly.

[ronnie raygun]

He was used to make a statement.

[Ann Archy]

Black Democrat doing Pelosi’s dirty work.

[Ann Archy]

IF the Republicans take over in 2022, McCARTHY BETTER FIRE EVERY DAMN ONE OF THESE CAPITOL POLICDE THUGS!!

[ThePatriotsFlag]

Jan 6th will forever be “Ashli Bab it Day”.

[no-to-illegals]

byrd used the exact same method as elected politicians to walk away from his murdering Ashli. Think hitlery

[Candor7]

Agreed. Some of them like Byrd have committed crimes. They need to be tried and jailed.

[Albion Wilde]

[GOPJ]

I'm sure if some cop killed a BLM or Antifa thug at point blank range AND stated he DID NOT FEEL THREATENED while killing the person - he would get a pass too... Right? /S