Statement of Widow Erin Smith and Dr. David P. Weber, Attorney for the Estate of Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey L. Smith and Mrs. Erin Smith, personally and as Executor of the Estate of Jeffrey Smith

8-18-2023 – Yesterday, Hope Janke, Esq., Director of the U.S. Department of Justice Public Safety Officers’ Benefit (“PSOB”) Office, informed Widow Erin Smith that the Attorney General of the United States, acting through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, determined that the death of Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) Officer Jeffrey L. Smith was designated as line of duty for purposes of federal law, and benefits will be provided to Officer Smith’s family. 

DOJ’s PSOB Program provides death and education benefits to survivors of fallen law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other first responders, and disability benefits to officers catastrophically injured in the line of duty.  Until a year ago today, this program precluded line of duty death benefits to any officer who was deemed to have contributed to or caused their own injury, including by suicide. 

Officer Smith died in the aftermath of the January 6^th, 2021 Capitol Insurrection, when he was a member of one of the first Washington, DC, MPD Civil Disturbance Units to enter the United States Capitol building in response to an urgent request for assistance from the U.S. Capitol Police. 

Officer Smith and his CDU were the very first officers to clear the barricaded area outside the Speaker’s Lobby, immediately after Ashli Babbitt was shot while attempting to breach the doors.  Officer Smith was then attacked multiple times, suffering a concussion, traumatic brain injury, and fractures to his suborbital cavities, after being struck both with a police baton, as well as a metal pole torn from scaffolding erected for the forthcoming inauguration of a new president.  Ultimately, the former Chief Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia opined, under oath, that Officer Smith suffered from post-concussive syndrome and traumatic injury to the brain. 

After suffering these injuries, and despite seeking medical treatment at the MPD’s Police and Fire Clinic after the riot was quelled, Officer Smith was sent home with orders for nothing more than ibuprofen, as providers at the clinic were overwhelmed in treating officers on the night of January 6-7, 2021.   Nine days later, the day he was ordered back to work, Officer Smith shot himself with his duty weapon while driving to work on the George Washington Memorial Parkway.  However, as later determined by the District of Columbia Police and Firefighter Retirement and Relief Board, “the sole and direct cause” of his death was not suicide, but the injuries he suffered on January 6^th.

At the time of his death, and after his death was ruled line of duty by the DC Police and Firefighter Retirement and Relief Board, the PSOB federal law would not have considered Officer Smith’s death line of duty.  Widow Erin Smith, with assistance from our law office, worked tirelessly to advocate for changes to federal law to allow line of duty benefits to widows and widowers of officers who die after suffering emotionally or physically traumatic circumstances, such as Officer Smith. 

In August 2022, with a large bipartisan vote, both houses of Congress passed a law to allow benefits, with reference to Officer Smith, his widow and his family in the Congressional Record.  The bill was signed into law on August 17, 2022 by President Biden. 

Widow Erin Smith’s application was the first to be filed with DOJ’s PSOB Program after the new law was enacted.  On Thursday, August 17, 2023, exactly a year to the date the President signed the law, Widow Erin Smith’s petition for federal line of duty benefits was approved by the Department of Justice. 

“When my husband died, I was denied the line of duty benefits that he deserved,” Erin Smith stated.  “But I knew from the beginning that Jeffrey died in the line of duty from the injuries he suffered on January 6^th.” 

“I could have given up.  But I did not want any future widow, or widower, to ever go through what I went through in the aftermath of Jeffrey’s death.”

“Instead, I decided that we needed to understand what happened to Jeffrey on January 6^th.” 

“What we learned was that Jeffrey’s injuries clearly caused his death.” 

“Right then, I decided that we needed to seek the line of duty death benefits, and we needed to change the law to allow such claims.  This wasn’t for me – it was to make sure no one ever had to go through this again.” 

“I am pleased that on the one-year anniversary of the law’s passage, Jeffrey’s death has finally been ruled to be line of duty under federal law.” 

“We have fought so long to reach this point, first with the MPD, then with the Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Relief Board, and now with the United States government.”

Dr. David P. Weber, attorney for the Smith, stated, “while we are pleased, one major step remains:  the inurnment of Officer Smith at Arlington National Cemetery.

“Widow Erin Smith was denied the official honor guard, even the burial of Officer Smith, based on the errant view and the stigma that follows police suicide.  She did not even receive a phone call or a note from the Mayor of the District of Columbia. Today, we know he died a hero, in the line of duty. But at the time, Mrs. Smith watched as other officers lay in state, while she mourned very much alone, with no support or acknowledgement from the nation or city.

“Now that we have received the federal line of duty death determination, we call upon the President and the Secretary of the Army to allow Officer Smith to be inurned next to U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick in Arlington. 

“In addition, we call upon the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Board of Directors to finally place Officer Smith’s name upon the law enforcement memorial as a line of duty death both under DC and federal law.  The time has come to #smashthestigma surrounding law enforcement officer mental health, the scientific causation between brain injuries and suicide, and to acknowledge the silent injuries suffered by many heroes. It is time to remove the stigma suffered by Mrs. Smith and all the future widows and widowers who have lost their loved ones to their law enforcement duties.  There can no longer be any serious debate that Police Officer Jeffrey Smith died in the line of duty.  As such, his name should be added to the wall immediately. 

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Goodwin Weber PLLC is a boutique law firm practicing out of offices on Chincoteague Island, Virginia; Ocean City, Maryland; and Montgomery County, Maryland.  It is frequently called upon to represent federal, state and local government employees who are injured, killed, or raise their hands as whistleblowers.  Dr. David P. Weber, a member of the firm, is a full-time forensics professor within the University System of Maryland and is allowed to practice law or serve as an expert witness for up to eight hours per week.  He holds a doctorate from the University of Florida, and a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law.  He completed his federal career as the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC’s Chief Investigator. He believes in speaking truth to power.