The mother of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick
said in an interview with
Daily Mail that her son was not beaten with a fire extinguisher, but
likely suffered a stroke.
"He wasn't hit on the head no. We think he had a stroke, but we don't know anything for sure," Gladys Sicknick said. "We'd love to know what happened."
Shortly after the Capitol Hill riot on Jan 6,
The New York Times reported,
based on anonymous sources, that Sicknick was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher.
"[Pro]-Trump supporters... overpowered Mr Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher according to two law enforcement officials," the paper wrote.
They have since issued a correction to the story weeks later.
The report was picked up uncritically by other major news outlets, who did not bother to confirm the legitimacy of the
Times' reporting. The story of him being beaten with a fire extinguisher was even presented as fact in former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial.
Comment: Welcome to the age of the tattle tail press.