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Capitol Hill police officers salute the late police officer Brian Sicknick as the hearse passes by
Photo: MIKE THEILER / imago images / UPI Photo
The police officer who was killed in the storm on the US Capitol in January died of natural causes, according to the autopsy report.
The officer Brian Sicknick was not killed, but died as a result of a double stroke, the forensic medicine announced on Monday in Washington.
The 42-year-old police officer collapsed during the storming of the US Congress building on January 6th by militant supporters of the elected President Donald Trump.
The first media reports said that Sicknick had been hit with a fire extinguisher.
However, these reports were later found to be false.
It was later said that a chemical substance such as pepper spray or bear spray had been sprayed on his face.
Forensic medicine now made it clear that Sicknick had died a "natural" death.
Cerebral infarcts caused by thrombosis in the basal artery were given as the cause of death.
The coroner's report mentions that Sicknick was sprayed with a chemical substance around 2:20 p.m.
At around 10 p.m. he collapsed in the Capitol and was taken to the hospital.
A connection between the spray and Sicknick's collapse is not made in the report.
Forensic doctor Francisco Diaz told the Washington Post that there was no evidence of an allergic reaction to the spray.
The officer also had no internal or external injuries.
A total of five people were killed in the course of the riots by Trump supporters in the US capital.
Sicknick died in hospital the day after the attack.
Trump's successor, Joe Biden, paid his last respects in February in a solemn ceremony at the Congress headquarters in Washington.
cop / AFP
