霍华德·利本伍德(Howard Liebengood)是美国国会大厦警察，在1月6日国会大厦遇袭三天后自杀身亡，她的遗孀已致函国会议员，要求她帮助将丈夫的死亡指定为“因公死亡”。
“1月6日在国会大厦协助防暴后，USCP安排豪伊在接下来的几天里轮班工作。在四天的时间里，他在家的时间很少，”塞蕾娜·利本古德写信给弗吉尼亚州的众议员詹妮弗·韦克斯顿，透露了显然不为人知的细节。
“尽管他严重缺乏睡眠，但他还是按照指示，从1月6日到9日几乎24小时值班。9日晚，他夺走了我们家的生命，”她写道自己51岁的丈夫。
利本伍德称美国国会警察局代理局长约加南达·皮特曼“不情愿”这样做是“必须纠正的错误”，要求国会干预。
皮特曼在周四的一份声明中回应说，“虽然我想尽最大可能支持利本伍德一家，但死亡责任声明是给在履行官方执法职责时死亡的官员的。”
她指出，即使是在9/11袭击后自杀的执法人员也不被归类为因公殉职。
利本伍德还要求国会成立一个两党委员会，调查暴乱和安全失败的原因。
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“利本伍德家族希望豪伊的死没有白费。对他死亡原因的认识，就像对暴乱本身的批判性审查一样，将仍然是我们如何纠正这些悲剧并帮助避免它们重演的核心，”她写道。
“我希望两党委员会将调查1月6日骚乱的根本原因，并提出建议以避免其再次发生，”她写道。“在这一切中，不能失去的是，我亲爱的丈夫在1月6日和随后的日子里为USCP的奉献和他为自己的幸福所做的牺牲而死去，就像他在国会大厦的台阶上被杀一样毫无疑问。”
利本伍德指出，她希望丈夫的去世能给美国国会警察带来支持，并对警察部队进行改革，特别是在精神健康和福祉方面。
皮特曼在她的声明中回应说，警方已经增加了警员的心理健康服务。
她说:「本署充分了解并十分欣赏我们的专业对人员所造成的影响，因此一直为员工提供精神健康资源，并在一月六日后大幅增加这些资源的规模和范围。」。
凯伦·所罗门(Karen Solomon)经营着一个执法自杀组织Blue HELP，该组织跟踪全国各地的执法自杀事件，她告诉美国广播公司新闻，没有将自杀确定为因公死亡的指导方针。
“是什么把那个军官带到自杀的地步，为什么那个军官得不到帮助?一旦我们能够回答这两个问题，我们就可以给它指定一个死亡责任线，”所罗门说。
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在她的信中，利本伍德概述了她丈夫“热情、温和、富有同情心”的个性以及他对参议院服务的“奉献”。“没有办法表达我们的家庭正在经历什么，因为我们努力在悲痛中发挥作用，”利本伍德写道。"我们从来没有想到我们会在人生的早期就失去豪伊。"
她强调她已故的丈夫与参议院有着深厚的渊源。
她说，利本伍德的父亲曾在参议院任职多年，甚至在武装部队担任参议院中士。李本伍德开始在国会大厦当侍从，李本伍德家族在参议院总共服务了50多年。前总统唐纳德·特朗普弹劾审判结束时，少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔在发言中向他的“朋友”利本伍德动情地点了点头。
“今天，我想重申我和我相信所有的参议员对USCP人民的巨大尊重和感激，他们每天都冒着生命危险打卡上班并站岗。无论是国会还是美国人民都不会忘记布莱恩·西克尼克警官的勇敢和英勇，他牺牲了自己来保护这个地方和里面的人。
“我们不会忘记我们的朋友霍华德·利本古德警官，”麦康奈尔说。“我们永远不会忘记我们对所有勇敢的USCP军官及其家人的感激之情。来到一个受到如此优秀的男人和女人保护的地方工作，对他们自己来说是有风险的，这不仅仅是安慰;这也非常令人羞愧。”
Capitol Police officer's widow wants his suicide death declared 'in the line of duty'
The widow of Howard Liebengood, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who died by suicide three days after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, has sent a letter to her member of Congress, asking she help get her husband's death be designated as "in the line of duty."
"After assisting riot control at the Capitol on January 6th, USCP scheduled Howie to work lengthy shifts in the immediate days following. He was home for very few hours over the course of four days," Serena Liebengood wrote to Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., revealing details apparently not publicly known.
"Although he was severely sleep-deprived, he remained on duty -- as he was directed -- practically around the clock from January 6 through the 9. On the evening of the 9, he took life at our home," she wrote of her 51-year-old husband.
Liebengood called the "reluctance" by U.S. Capitol Police Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman to do so a "wrong which must be rectified," asking that Congress intervene.
Pittman responded in a statement Thursday, saying, "While I want to support the Liebengood family to the maximum extent possible, Line of Duty Death declarations are given to officers who die while carrying out official law enforcement responsibilities."
She cited that even law enforcement officers who had killed themselves after responding to the 9/11 attacks were not classified as having died in the line of duty.
Liebengood also requested a bipartisan commission, which has been in the works in Congress, to examine the causes of the riot and security failures.
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"The Liebengood family wants Howie’s death to not have been in vain. Recognition of the cause of his death, much like the critical examination of the riot itself, will remain central to how we make right those tragedies and help avoid their repetition," she wrote.
"I’m hopeful that a bipartisan commission will examine the root causes of the January 6 riot and make recommendations to avoid its reoccurrence," she wrote. "What must not be lost in all of this is that my beloved husband died as the result of his dedication to the USCP and the sacrifices he made to his well-being on January 6th and the ensuing days, just as assuredly as if he had been slain on the Capitol steps."
Liebengood noted she wanted her husband's death to bring support to U.S. Capitol Police officers and reforms to the police force, especially when it comes to mental health and well-being.
Pittman, in her statement, responded the force had increased access to mental health for officers.
"With a full understanding of and immense appreciation for the toll our profession can have on officers, the Department has always made mental health resources available to our workforce and significantly increased those resources in size and scope after January 6th," she said.
Karen Solomon, who runs the law enforcement suicide group Blue HELP, which tracks law enforcement suicides around the country, told ABC News that there are no guidelines on establishing a suicide as a line of duty death.
"What brought the officer to the point of suicide, and why couldn't that officer get help? And once we can answer those two questions, we can assign it a line of duty death designation," Solomon said.
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In her letter, Liebengood outlines her husband’s "warm, gentle, and compassionate" personality and his "devotion" to service in the Senate. "There is no way to convey what our family is going through, as we struggle to simply function in our grief," Liebengood wrote. "We never could have imagined that we would lose Howie so early in our lives."
She emphasized that her late husband had deep roots with the Senate.
Liebengood's father had served for years in the Senate, she said, and even worked as Senate Sergeant at Arms. Liebengood started work at the Capitol as a page, and the Liebengood family totaled more than 50 years of service in the Senate. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave an emotional nod to his "friend" Liebengood in an floor speech at the end of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
"Today I want to reaffirm the huge respect and gratitude that I have – and I believe all senators have – for the men and women of the USCP who put their own safety on the line every single day that they clock in and stand guard. Neither the institution of Congress nor the American people will ever forget the bravery and the valor of Officer Brian Sicknick, who sacrificed himself to protect this place and those inside it.
"We will not forget our friend Officer Howard Liebengood," McConnell said. "And we will never forget our debt to all brave USCP officers and their families. It is more than just comforting to come to work in a place protected by such fine men and women, at risk to themselves; it is also very humbling."
