The Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol wasn’t that long ago. So why do people keep fudging the details?
Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker suggested Thursday that Massachusetts native and former Capitol Police officer William Evans died last year from injuries sustained during the Jan. 6 riot.
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This isn’t even close to being true.
Evans was killed on April 2, 2021, after a motorist slammed a vehicle into the barricades outside the Capitol complex. The motorist, Noah Green, was discovered later to be a supporter of the Nation of Islam, specifically its leader, Louis Farrakhan.
Evans’s death had nothing to do with the Jan. 6 riot.
Yet, Baker said Thursday in a statement on the Jan. 6 riot that “one of the officers who lost his life protecting the Capitol last year was William Evans, a North Adams native who tragically leaves behind a beautiful family. His sacrifice, and his colleagues’ actions, will stand as shining examples of heroism and bravery.”
Perhaps more disconcerting than Baker’s bogus statement tying Evans’s death to Jan. 6 is the fact local Massachusetts media shared it without noting the factual inaccuracy.
“Governor Baker statement on this one year since the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol” was all WCVB newscaster Antoinette Antonio had to say.
MassLive State House reporter Alison Kuznitz added, “On the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Gov. Charlie Baker mourns the loss of North Adams native William Evans.”
Boston’s NPR affiliate, WBUR, tweeted, “Mass. governor shares this on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection.”
Not one of them noted Evans died months after the riot in an unrelated car-ramming attack.
Equally disconcerting is the fact that President Joe Biden himself suggested Thursday that Evans’s death was in some way related to the events of Jan. 6.
“Some have already made the ultimate sacrifice in this sacred effort,” Biden said Thursday at a memorial event. “Jill and I have mourned police officers in this Capitol Rotunda not once but twice in the wake of Jan. 6: once to honor Officer Brian Sicknick, who lost his life the day after the attack, and a second time to honor Officer Billy Evans, who lost his life defending this Capitol as well.”
As a reminder, Sicknick suffered two strokes after the riot and died of natural causes, according to Francisco Diaz, the chief medical examiner in Washington, D.C. There is no evidence Sicknick suffered injuries from the riot, Diaz said.
Also, how are we defining “in the wake of Jan. 6″? Because that is a vague phrase, and April 2 seems like an awfully generous lead-time.
