The mother of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot while participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was arrested Friday afternoon for blocking traffic near the Capitol.
Micki Witthoeft, 58, is charged with blocking and obstructing roadways, U.S. Capitol Police said.
A group of demonstrators that didn’t have a permit to demonstrate on Capitol grounds Friday blocked traffic on Independence Avenue SW and First Street SW before 2 p.m., police said.
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Police created a line to stop the group from advancing and warned they would be arrested if they failed to clear the roadway, police said.
Witthoeft refused and asked to be arrested, police said. She was arrested, processed and released with a citation to appear in court at a future date.
Witthoeft’s daughter, Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran, was shot in the Capitol Jan. 6, 2021, as she attempted to climb through an opening in a barricaded door where a glass panel had broken out, a Justice Department investigation found.
Babbitt was part of a group of pro-President Donald Trump rioters who gathered in a hallway outside the Speaker's lobby, which leads to the House chamber as a mob of hundreds of people invaded the building, temporarily derailing efforts to confirm President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory.
A Capitol Police officer inside the lobby as Babbitt tried to crawl through the door fired his service pistol, striking her in the left shoulder and causing her to fall backward to the floor, the DOJ said. She was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she died, the agency said.
Capitol Police and the DOJ decided not to pursue discipline against the officer.
