Jury orders J6 participant who assaulted officer who later committed suicide to pay $500M in damages

A federal jury has ordered a participant in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to pay $500,000 to the family and estate of a police officer whom he assaulted and who then committed suicide days later.  

David Walls-Kaufman, a 69-year-old chiropractor, was ordered by an eight-member jury Monday to pay $380,000 in punitive damages and $60,000 in compensatory damages to Erin Smith for assaulting her husband, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Walls-Kaufman was also ordered to pay $60,000 to compensate Jeffrey Smith's estate for his pain and suffering, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who oversaw the trial, dismissed Erin Smith’s wrongful-death claim against Walls-Kaufman, a District of Columbia resident, before jury deliberations began because she said no reasonable juror could conclude that his actions were capable of causing a traumatic brain injury leading to Smith’s death.

Walls-Kaufman, who lives near the Capitol, denied assaulting Smith, and said that any injuries he suffered on Jan. 6 occurred later that day, when another rioter threw a pole that struck Smith around his head.

“Erin is grateful to receive some measure of justice,” said one of her lawyers, David P. Weber.

Walls-Kaufman called the outcome of the trial “absolutely ridiculous.”

“No crime happened. I never struck the officer. I never intended to strike the officer,” he said. “I'm just stunned.”

Reyes encouraged the parties, after the jury left, to discuss a possible settlement to avoid an appeal.

“You guys settle, you can move on with your lives,” she said.

Jeffrey Smith shot and killed himself with his service weapon when he was driving to work for the first time following the Capitol riot. His family said he didn't have a history of mental health problems before the Jan. 6 riot. 

Erin Smith claims that Walls-Kaufman struck her husband's head with his own police baton, giving him a concussion and causing psychological and physical trauma that led to his suicide.

Walls-Kaufman served a 60-day prison sentence after pleading guilty to a Capitol riot-related misdemeanor in January 2023, but was pardoned by President Trump in January along with nearly 1,600 others involved in the riot.