Disturbing new videos show Capitol Police officer who died being attacked with chemical spray during Jan. 6 riot

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(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Footage obtained by The New York Times shows for the first time a rioter spraying Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick with chemical spray on Jan. 6. Sicknick collapsed later that day and died the next night, although Washington, D.C.'s, chief medical examiner has yet to release his autopsy and cause of death.

Two men, Julian Khater and George Tanios, have been charged with assaulting Sicknick and two other officers with bear spray — which the Times notes can be many times more powerful than pepper spray and is not meant for use on humans. The two men can be seen near the police line on the west side of the Capitol, where Sicknick was among the officers guarding the area. In one clip, Khater is heard asking Tanios to hand him "that bear s---," and appears to reach into Tanios' backpack to retrieve it.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.