The casket of slain U.S. Capitol Police Officer William “Billy” Evans arrived at the Capitol on Tuesday as President Joe Biden and congressional leaders prepared to pay their respects.
Biden eulogizes slain officer as Capitol Police mourn again
By Mary Clare Jalonick and Kevin Freking - Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden said Tuesday that “never has there been more strain” on the U.S. Capitol Police as he honored Officer William “Billy” Evans, the second officer on the force to die in the line of duty this year.
Evans, who laid in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, was killed earlier this month when a driver struck him and another officer at a barricade outside the Senate. His death compounded the anguish of a police force already mourning the loss of Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after his encounter with rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection. Another officer, Howard Liebengood, died by suicide in the days after the Capitol attack.
In the weeks and months since, top leaders have resigned, and many have considered leaving the department. Officials have brought in trauma therapists, and lawmakers are considering what more they can do.
Sicknick and Evans are two of only six Capitol Police officers who have been killed in the line of duty in the force’s nearly 200-year history, according to the department. Evans had been on the force for 18 years.
Biden, speaking at the service in the Rotunda attended by congressional leaders and Evans‘ fellow officers, said he had never seen as much “strain and responsibility” put on the department in the nearly 50 years since he first came to Capitol Hill as a senator. And yet, he said, “you watch them do their duty with pure courage and not complain.”