Erin Smith last saw her husband, Metropolitan Police officer Jeffrey Smith, when he left for work on the morning of Jan. 15, 2021. 

Jeffrey would never make it to his shift, as the 35-year-old shot himself with his service revolver on George Washington Parkway. In a piece published in USA Today on Monday, Erin Smith said her husband would still be alive had he not responded to the violent insurrection on Capitol Hill just two weeks earlier. 

What You Need To Know

  • Erin Smith wants the Washington, D.C., government to recognize the suicide of her husband, Metropolitan Police officer Jeffrey Smith, as a line-of-duty death 

  • Officer Smith died by suicide nearly two weeks after responding to the violent insurrection on Capitol Hill, where he was hit in the head with a metal pole

  • Smith and other widows of Jan. 6 responders have long been pushing for the line-of-duty designation, which comes with greater financial benefits and a more dignified memorial

  • If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, or text HOME to 741741 for support from the Crisis Text Line

Mrs. Smith wants the Washington, D.C., government, the mayor, and the police department to recognize her husband’s suicide as a line-of-duty death, writing it is far past time to recognize that “silent injuries, these deaths, even when at a police officer’s own hand, are a direct result of the job they have been doing.” 

Smith described her husband as someone passionate about their job, saying the 12-year veteran of the force “loved meeting tourists walking through downtown, talking with them and telling them where things were located.” 

But that all changed when Jeffrey was sent to protect the Capitol from a violent mob on Jan. 6. While the totality of the circumstances is unknown — the police department has so far refused to release Smith’s body camera footage — Jeffrey was hit in the head with a metal pole, and later sent to the Police and Fire Clinic.

In the days and weeks after, Erin described her husband as moody, quiet and sometimes testy. He was in constant pain, and was unsatisfied with the level of care he received at the clinic.

The Smiths were hopeful a follow-up appointment might help. 

“But at that appointment, rather than being cared for, he was ordered back to duty the very next day, Jan. 15,” Erin Smith said of her husband. “He told me it was the shortest doctor’s appointment he ever had. This time when I packed his lunch and watched him drive away in his beloved Mustang GT, it would be the last time I would see him.” 

Smith’s husband would be the second officer to take his own life after responding to the Capitol insurrection. Howard Liebengood, a member of the United States Capitol Police, died by suicide in the days after the insurrection.

Last week, the Metropolitan Police announced that two more of their officers who had responded to the insurrection had died by suicide. Officer Kyle DeFreytag was found dead on July 10 and Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead in his home Thursday.

Smith and other widows of Jan. 6 responders have been pushing for the line-of-duty designation since mid-February, which comes with greater financial benefits and a more dignified memorial. 

“These officers need to be recognized for the horrors they have seen and protected us from,” Smith wrote in Monday’s op-ed. “Their service needs to be respected. Their families should receive the same support and assistance as every other fallen officer’s family. Instead, we have been stigmatized, had our health insurance taken, denied even the courtesy of an official burial.” 

Numerous lawmakers have commended Smith and his fellow officers who died during or after the insurrection. President Joe Biden invoked Smith’s name during a Rose Garden ceremony last week, which awarded Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department for protecting Congress. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., mentioned both Smith and Liebengood’s names during a eulogy for Officer Brian Sicknick, who died the day after the insurrection. 

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has encouraged the Department of Justice to consider approving line-of-duty benefits to Leibengood’s widow and others who died by suicide following the riot. 

Still, Smith has an uphill battle ahead of her. 

“My husband died protecting Congress, the Capitol and the people of this great country. As the president said Thursday in the Rose Garden, he died protecting democracy itself,” Erin Smith wrote. “I know that. Anyone who reads the news knows that. The expert reports say that.” 

“It’s time the mayor and the Metropolitan Police Department acknowledge what’s obvious and treat him the same as any other officer who pins on that badge and goes to work to ‘serve and protect,’” she concluded. 

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, or text HOME to 741741 for support from the Crisis Text Line.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.