(Credit: Revolver News)
The Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 riots and then was promoted has a lengthy internal affairs and disciplinary record that includes firearm-related incidents, a sweeping congressional investigation has found.
The issues in Captain Michael Byrd’s background included a failed shotgun qualification test, a failed FBI background check for a weapon’s purchase, a 33-day suspension for a lost weapon and referral to Maryland state prosecutors for firing his gun at a stolen car fleeing his neighborhood, according to congressional and police documents obtained by Just the News.
Byrd’s record was uncovered during a larger House Administration Oversight Subcommittee investigation into the Capitol Police disciplinary process and was chronicled in a letter Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., the panel’s chairman, sent Wednesday to the department’s chief, Thomas Manger, in which the lawmaker expressed concerns about the officer’s promotion to captain.
“This Subcommittee is dedicated to ensuring USCP has autonomy from political pressures so it can make operational and personnel decisions,” Loudermilk wrote in the letter. “However, based on the information obtained by the Subcommittee regarding USCP’s handling of Captain Byrd following January 6, 2021, and his significant disciplinary history, I have concerns about USCP’s decision to promote him to the rank of Captain.”
You can read the letter below: List of incidents:
The incidents described in Loudermilk’s letter are corroborated by congressional records and police reports that date as early as 2004 including:
- A 2004 incident where Byrd, who was off duty, fired his weapon at a stolen vehicle as it was fleeing his residential neighborhood;
- A 2015 “conduct unbecoming an officer” complaint filed by a fellow officer after Byrd, again off duty, confronted him while the officer was working at a high school football game in an incident with racial overtones;
- A 33-day suspension in 2019 after Byrd left his service weapon unattended in a public Capitol Hill bathroom;
- A failure to pass a routine background check shortly after Jan. 6 when attempting to purchase a shotgun for home protection, after the USCP worked to provide Byrd a department-issued shotgun instead, he failed the training; and
- Three further referrals to the Capitol Police Office of Professional Responsibility for which records are reportedly missing.
Mark Schamel, the lawyer representing Byrd, did not respond several requests for comment. The U.S. Capitol Police also did not return several inquiries from Just the News. (Read more: Just the News, 11/20/2024) (Archive)