Capitol Rioter Ordered to Pay $440K to Officer's Widow

A federal jury on Monday awarded $500,000 to the widow and estate of a police officer who killed himself nine days after he helped defend the US Capitol from a mob of rioters, including a man who scuffled with the officer during the attack.

• The eight-member jury ordered that man, 69-year-old chiropractor David Walls-Kaufman, to pay $380,000 in punitive damages and $60,000 in compensatory damages to Erin Smith for assaulting her husband, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the AP reports. The jurors awarded an additional $60,000 to compensate Jeffrey Smith's estate for his pain and suffering.

• The judge presiding over the civil trial dismissed Erin Smith's wrongful-death claim against Walls-Kaufman before jurors began deliberating last week. US District Judge Ana Reyes said no reasonable juror could conclude that Walls-Kaufman's actions were capable of causing a traumatic brain injury leading to Smith's death.
• On Friday, the jury sided with Erin Smith and held Walls-Kaufman liable for assaulting her 35-year-old husband—an encounter captured on the officer's body camera. "Erin is grateful to receive some measure of justice," said David P. Weber, one of her attorneys.
• Walls-Kaufman said the outcome of the trial is "absolutely ridiculous." "No crime happened. I never struck the officer. I never intended to strike the officer," he said. "I'm just stunned."

• Jeffrey Smith was driving to work for the first time after the Capitol riot when he shot and killed himself with his service weapon. His family said he had no history of mental health problems before the Jan. 6 riot. Erin Smith claimed Walls-Kaufman struck her husband in the head with his own police baton, giving him a concussion and causing psychological and physical trauma that led to his suicide.
• Walls-Kaufman, who lived a few blocks from the Capitol, denied assaulting Smith. He said any injuries that the officer suffered on Jan. 6 occurred later in the day, when another rioter threw a pole that struck Smith around his head. Months after the attack, online sleuths identified Walls-Kaufman from images posted online.
• Walls-Kaufman served a 60-day prison sentence after pleading guilty to a Capitol riot-related misdemeanor in January 2023. Like almost all of the other 1,600 people charged in the attack, he was pardoned by President Trump in January.

(More Capitol riot stories.)