A D.C. retirement board has granted a full pension to the widow of a District police officer who was injured confronting rioters at the Capitol insurrection and later took his own life.

       The ruling is a victory for Officer Jeffrey Smith’s wife, Erin Smith, who says her husband’s death by suicide nine days after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot was the result of injuries he received when he took a blow to the head with a crowbar, or a similar object.

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       As a result of the decision, Erin Smith will receive a yearly annuity equal to 100 percent of the officer’s salary, typically given only to families of officers whose deaths are ruled as in the line of duty.

       In Smith’s case, the D.C. Police and Firefighters Retirement and Relief Board said in a letter dated March 7 that the officer’s injury on Jan. 6 “was the sole and direct cause of his death.” It also refers to a city code that describes line-of-duty deaths by officers.

       Wife of D.C. police officer who took own life after Capitol riot presses city to recognize his death

       Erin Smith’s attorney, David P. Weber, said he believes such a ruling is rare in the context of a suicide, and he will now use this declaration to ask for a memorial service to be held by D.C. police and at the Capitol Rotunda.

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       U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick laid in honor at the Rotunda after he died after the Jan. 6 riot. His death was determined to be from natural causes. Two men were arrested and charged with assaulting him. President Biden attended Sicknick’s memorial.

       Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who represents Smith’s family in Congress, said in a statement Wednesday night that he supports “full memorial honors for Officer Smith.

       “Officer Jeffrey Smith would still be alive today if he hadn’t risked his life to defend all of us at the U.S. Capitol and our democracy itself on January 6th,” Beyer said. “His heroism led to his death, which absolutely occurred in the line of duty, and the official acknowledgment of that fact is an important moment that I hope will bring a measure of solace to his family and friends.”

       Beyer said he was particularly thinking of Erin Smith Wednesday night, who fought for more than a year for her husband’s death to receive the same recognition and honors as other police officers who have died in the line of duty.

       Weber said Erin Smith also wants her husband’s name added to the D.C. police department’s list of fallen officers and engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. The memorial is run by a nonprofit group whose executive director has said inclusion is not typically considered in suicide cases.

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       “Now is the time for him to be given a line of duty death observation,” Weber said.

       Dustin Sternbeck, a D.C. police spokesman, said Wednesday that a line of duty designation for Smith “is still under review” and that any decision would be told directly to the family.

       D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III and two police department lawyers told the retirement board earlier in the process that there is “no direct evidence of Officer Smith’s mindset at the time of his death.” They wrote they could not “reasonably opine” whether Smith’s death was linked to physical or psychological injuries from Jan. 6, and to do so “would be pure speculation.”

       Two officers who helped fight the Capitol mob died by suicide. Many more are hurting.

       Erin Smith had the backing of congressional representatives from Virginia, where the officer had lived, and the filings to the retirement board contained medical reports from two doctors — one a forensic pathologist and former chief medical examiner for the District — supporting the claim.

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       Those doctors concluded that Smith lost consciousness during the riot and then later exhibited “mood and behavioral changes” that led to his suicide. Smith had gone to the police and fire medical clinic hours after the riot, but his lawyer says his injuries were misdiagnosed.

       The clinic cleared him to return to work on Jan. 14. Smith shot himself the following day while driving into the District for his first shift.

       The family of another officer who took his own life after encountering rioters, Capitol officer Howard Liebengood, also is pressing for recognition. Two other D.C. police officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 also took their own lives in the months afterward; their families have not spoken publicly.

       If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). You can also text a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741.