Duke wrote to grieving girlfriend of officer killed in US Capitol riot
THE Duke of Cambridge has praised a police officer who died after being assaulted during the US Capitol riot for upholding American democracy, in a letter to the man’s grieving partner.
The Duke, who often writes to the families of members of the British emergency services following a tragedy, told the girlfriend of Brian Sicknick that he wanted to pay tribute to the officer’s “patriotism and selflessness”. The police officer, 42, died after trying to fend off a mob who laid siege to the building in Washington DC on Jan 6 last year.
He had been pepper-sprayed and hit with a fire extinguisher as a crowd of Donald Trump supporters stormed the building in the hope of blocking the confirmation of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Sandra Garza, his girlfriend, has now revealed that the Duke wrote to her in the aftermath of the attack.
In the letter, which Ms Garza showed to US television channel CNN on Thursday, the Duke said: “Please forgive me if I am intruding, but I wanted to write and let you know how sorry I am about the death of your partner, Brian. Having recently watched documentary footage of the harrowing events that took place at the Capitol building, I wanted to acknowledge the patriotism and selflessness of Brian.
“By all accounts Brian performed valiantly whilst on duty and despite suffering injuries continued to do his utmost to protect those inside. I was terribly saddened to hear he had passed away the following day and I hope you can take some comfort from knowing that it is thanks to law enforcement officers like Brian that the situation did not escalate further and democracy was upheld.”
Signing off with “thoughts and prayers”, the Duke added: “I know that words cannot hope to provide comfort to you at this dreadful time, but I wanted to let you know that you and Brian’s family are very much in my thoughts.”
In an interview, Ms Garza said she had received no message of condolence from Mr Trump. “Trump does not give two c--ps about law enforcement or Brian, and yet Prince William took the time to reach out to me and honour Brian’s memory,” she said.