# Third officer dies of suicide after January 6 attack on Capitol--what is going on here? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 2, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900 "2021-08-02T21:59:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/1 "2021-08-02T21:59:43Z")
Three officers have died of suicide since the attack on the Capitol on January 6. What is it psychologically that drives people to take their own life, in this case nearly seven months after the event? Is this PTSD? The rate of suicide among officers on duty that day seems high compared to people who suffer other types of traumatic events, although I am having a hard time finding statistics. You don’t hear much in the media about police officers who die by suicide in general–is it getting heavy coverage because it follows the January 6 attack? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2021, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/2 "2021-08-02T22:10:59Z")
I have to imagine being actively hated by so many people must eat away at you. With sweeping generalizations, the left is kinda ‘meh’ about you, the far left gets ACAB tattoos and the right, who have historically been on your side, abandoned you on the 6th. Can you imagine taking the stand and re-telling (and re-living) the events of that day only to have it dismissed or even be told you’re full of shit. Sorta similar to kids that have been victims of bullies. The kids that spoke up and were told to quiet back down, everything is fine. Or told to just ignore it or told that _they’re_ the ones causing the problem or that they’re lying or whatever. And these kids are just dealing with a few random people in their school. I can’t imagine what it’s like to suddenly have the entire nation, or what feels like the entire nation, suddenly turn on you. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/3 "2021-08-02T22:20:45Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > You don’t hear much in the media about police officers who die by suicide in general–is it getting heavy coverage because it follows the January 6 attack? There’s been a considerable amount of coverage of police suicides. > **[New Study Shows Police At Highest Risk For Suicide Of Any Profession](https://www.addictioncenter.com/news/2019/09/police-at-highest-risk-for-suicide-than-any-profession/)** > > According to a nationwide study, police officers are at a higher risk of suicide than any other profession due to access to deadly weapons and trauma. That claim does not appear to be accurate. > **[PolitiFact - No, police officer is not the job with highest rate of suicide](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jun/24/facebook-posts/no-police-officer-not-job-highest-rate-suicide/)** > > A Facebook user defending law enforcement officers claims that police officer is "the occupation with the highest suicid Blaming the Capitol riot for officer suicides - real cause, or speculation? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2021, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/4 "2021-08-02T22:25:31Z")
Did they not get death threats and the like? Or is my memory failing me… ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/5 "2021-08-03T02:03:40Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > There’s been a considerable amount of coverage of police suicides. I’m not saying you can’t find it but it’s not front-page news. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/6 "2021-08-03T03:31:58Z")
Keep in mind this was a medieval battle that lasted for hours and was an unprecedented insurrection. Not a peaceful crowd that got out of hand. This has to suck. Police suicides has been in the news ever since I was a kid back in the 1960’s My father was a WW2 pacfic theater and Korean war vet, he still had PTSD and woke up with violent nightmares at 80 before he died. The suicides should not be that surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/7 "2021-08-03T09:32:22Z")
~~Three~~ FOUR police from Jan. 6 have done the suicide thing. > **[Fourth Police Officer Who Responded To Jan. 6 Attack Dies By Suicide](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/officer-kyle-defreytag_n_61089f3de4b038cedb36e4ae)** > > Officer Kyle DeFreytag served on D.C.'s Metropolitan Police force for about five years. He was 26. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/8 "2021-08-03T09:41:13Z")
**Moderator Action** While the OP is at least partially factual, answers are probably going to require a lot of speculation and opinion. Let’s move this to IMHO (from GQ). Any factual data (such as the statistics that the OP is looking for) is of course still welcome. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/9 "2021-08-03T13:59:24Z")
I was hoping to get factual answers from people in the psychology/psychiatry community but I guess we’ll have to settle for speculation and opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/10 "2021-08-03T14:50:12Z")
Pretty sure all medical advice topics end up here. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-officer-dies-of-suicide-after-january-6-attack-on-capitol-what-is-going-on-here/947900/11 "2021-08-03T14:56:12Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > … **factual** answers from people in the psychology/psychiatry community… My bold. On this topic, not possible. Speaking as someone with an MA in psychology and a family member who committed suicide.