Judy Woodruff:
On January 6, as rioters breached the Capitol's security perimeter, Capitol Police officers tried pushing back the crowd in an attempt to protect the building and the lawmakers still inside.
One of those officers was Brian Sicknick. Pro-Trump rioters sprayed him with a chemical substance during the insurrection. He collapsed later that evening. He suffered two strokes, and he died the next day at the age of 42.
Officer Sicknick and Sandra Garza were together for 11 years. And she joins me now.
Sandra Garza, thank you so much for joining us to talk about something so personal to you.
Tell us a little bit about him.
Sandra Garza, Girlfriend of Brian Sicknick: Oh, well, Brian was just one of the sweetest, kindest men I have ever met.
And I know that sounds so cliche, when a loved one or someone that you care about so much passes away, for people to say, oh, they were the kindest, sweetest person I have ever met. But it really was true.
To really emphasize how true that was about Brian, even the investigators who were investigating Brian's death, because it took three-and-a-half months to find out what caused his death, they actually said to me that they could not find one person, not one single soul to say anything negative about Brian.
That's how well-liked and how good of a person that he was. Brian got along with everybody. He was just a warm, loving person. And so it really hurt me a lot to know that he suffered greatly before his death. So, he was a good person.
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