The Justice Department determined that a police officer who died by suicide after responding to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol was a death in the line of duty. That determination means the officer’s wife can receive death benefits.
Jeffrey Smith died Jan. 15, 2021. According to NBC News, a medical examiner hired by the family determined there was a direct cause and effect relationship between his death and the trauma he experienced during the attack.
Body camera footage shows Officer Smith was hit with his own baton and a metal pole that was thrown from someone in the crowd.
Smith’s wife fought to regain these benefits after initially losing them.
“The main goal is to get departments to recognize that a death by suicide can be correlated to the job. It can be a line of duty death,” Erin Smith told NBC News in June 2022. “And departments need to recognize that and understand that they can’t just brush these types of deaths under the rug and they need to be investigated and they need to be designated correctly.”
Smith was a resident of Northern Virginia. His congressional representatives, Sens. Mark Warner, D, Tim Kaine, D, and Rep. Don Beyer, D, had been pushing for this designation.
“We are relieved the DOJ has taken this step to grant Officer Smith’s family the respect and recognition they deserve after this horrific tragedy,” the trio said in a joint statement. “Officer Smith gave his life in service to democracy and the peaceful transition of power. We owe him — and all law enforcement — a tremendous debt of gratitude for putting their lives on the line for our safety.”
This line of duty death determination was made possible by the Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022. Before the law, officers who died or were disabled as a result of suicide or PTSD did not qualify for the Public Safety Officer’s Benefits Program. As the law explains, that’s the case “despite the fact that public safety officers are more likely to die by suicide than from any other line-of-duty cause of death.”
The law creates a presumption that an officer’s death or permanent disability was caused by a personal injury in the line of duty if the officer took an action with the intent to take their life within 45 days of exposure to a traumatic event and their actions were consistent with a psychiatric disorder.
The Senate passed the bill unanimously and the House approved it with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Four officers died by suicide after responding to the Capitol riot. At least one other officer’s suicide, including that of Officer Howard Liebengood, was determined to be a death in the line of duty.
