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Background: Taylor Taranto and Dr. David Walls-Kaufman inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack (Department of Justice). Left inset: Capitol Police Officer Jeffrey Smith (Jack Reznicki). Right inset: Donald Trump speaks after meeting with members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at their headquarters on Jan. 31, 2024, in Washington (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik).
President Donald Trump may have criminally absolved Jan. 6 participants through pardons, commutations and dismissals this week, but that doesn’t erase the civil lawsuits that are currently pending against several rioters.
Defendants Taylor Taranto and Dr. David Walls-Kaufman, for instance, of Washington state, are both still facing wrongful death lawsuits for attacking a Capitol Police officer who shot and killed himself after suffering from “severe depression” and a “brain injury” caused by a concussion he allegedly sustained at their hands.
As first noted by the Tri-City Herald, Trump’s pardon does not dismiss the civil lawsuit filed by Erin Smith, the widow of Jeffrey Smith, who died by suicide on Jan. 15 just nine days after he was allegedly attacked during the Capitol riot by Taranto and Walls-Kaufman. Court filings viewed by Law&Crime on Thursday confirm the case is still active.
Jeffrey Smith used his service weapon to take his life while on the way to work, his wife says.
During the Jan. 6 riot, Jeffrey Smith was allegedly struck in the face by a metal tactical “cane” that Walls-Kaufman — a D.C. chiropractor — was wielding that day. Taranto is accused of giving him the cane.
“Kaufman was part of the insurrectionist mob inside the US Capitol and was being escorted out of the building by MPD officers,” the wrongful death suit says. “Co-Defendant Taranto handed a cane or crowbar (or similar object) to Kaufman. Kaufman, in turn, violently swung the cane and struck Officer Smith in the face/head.”
Erin Smith’s filing describes the attack as a violent crime of opportunity, with her husband being “in a particularly vulnerable situation because his face shield was up — “leaving his face and eyes exposed,” the lawsuit says.
“It appears that Kaufman and Taranto specifically and maliciously targeted Officer Smith because his visor was in the upright position, making him vulnerable to this brutal and vicious attack,” the suit charges.
Taranto, a U.S. Navy veteran, was caught on surveillance video clashing with Capitol police alongside Walls-Kaufman, prosecutors said. His trial for his alleged actions that day was scheduled to begin in May before it was scrubbed this week. Walls-Kaufman was sentenced in June 2023 to two months in prison after pleading guilty and admitting that he “scuffled” with officers, according to NBC News.
Taylor Taranto appears amidst the melee at the U.S. Capitol Complex on Jan. 6, 2021. (Erin Smith lawsuit)
Last Thursday, Erin Smith’s lawyers filed a motion to compel in the wrongful death case, seeking a response to a subpoena that had been served on the Metropolitan Police Department in connection to what happened to her husband, according to court documents viewed by Law&Crime. Police officials responded Thursday with a filing saying it had compiled the requested info.
Erin Smith has called the attack on her husband an “unlawful” and “intentional” assault.
“As a direct and proximate result of the intentional assault … which, in turn, caused Smith’s death, Erin Smith sustained pecuniary loss, mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, loss of society, loss of companionship, loss of comfort of protection, loss of marital care, loss of filial care, loss of attention, loss of advice, loss of counsel, loss of training, loss of guidance and loss of consortium,” her suit says.
In addition to Jan. 6, Taranto was arrested and charged for allegedly showing up to former President Barack Obama‘s home in Washington, D.C., in 2023 toting guns, ammunition and possible supplies for an explosive device.
As Law&Crime reported, Taranto was arrested on a fugitive for justice warrant on June 29, 2023, when he was found near Obama’s home in the elite Kalorama neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. He took off running toward the residence but was promptly chased off by the Secret Service before being apprehended hours later when he was found lurking in the woods.
Prosecutors said that Taranto stashed weapons, including firearms and ammunition, as well as materials that could be fashioned into a Molotov cocktail-like device. They also claimed the military vet had been lingering in Washington, D.C., for months before the incident.
He often slept in his van near a jail where many Jan. 6 defendants are detained, according to prosecutors.
