President Joe Biden this afternoon honored the memory and service of New Jersey’s own, Officer

Brian Sicknick, with a Presidential Citizens Metal presented to Officer Sicknick’s parents.

Gladys and Charles Sicknick accepted the award from the President in a ceremony at the White House on the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 6th 2021 mob insurrection at the United States Capitol where Mr. Sicknick lost his life defending the democratic process.

The youngest of three sons, Mr. Sicknick grew up in South River and attended East Brunswick Technical High School. Prior to becoming a Capitol Police Office, he served in the New Jersey Air National Guard and was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant after serving in Operation Southern Watch and Operation Enduring Freedom.

On Jan. 6th, 2021, Mr. Sicknick was part of a “police line guarding the perimeter of the U.S. Capitol on the day that pro-Trump mobs attempted to stop lawmakers from certifying President Biden’s Electoral College victory.

“Sicknick was attacked with chemical spray during the confrontation and collapsed later that evening. He suffered from two strokes and died the next day. Sicknick was 42.”

The New Jersey native is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Today, the Sicknicks joined more than a dozen other individuals, among them other law enforcement officers who injured on the fateful day, including a Capitol Police officer who died the day after rioters stormed the building, officers who died by suicide after defending the Capitol, and election workers who rejected efforts by former President Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

As he honored the officer’s memory, President Biden spoke to the group at large about those law enforcement officers who died as a consequence of the mob. “This is warranted and overdue, particularly for the families of a hero defending our Capitol and our democracy,” said Biden. “People will look at you and say, ‘that’s the grace and dignity I want to display.”

Gladys and Charles Sicknick have expressed their disgust with GOP leaders who went out of their way to buttress the false election claims by Trump and his supporters, or who failed to seek justice in the aftermath of their son’s death.

From NBC News last month:

“We got together and said we’re not going to shake their hands,” [said] Gladys Sicknick, mother of the late officer.

“She called out congressional Republicans who continue to support former President Trump, ‘go down to Mar-a-Lago and you know, kiss his ring or whatever the hell they do down there, you know.’ She met with Republican lawmakers last year asking for them to vote in support of creating a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the Capitol attack. McConnell and McCarthy were opposed to the commission. The legislation passed the House, but it was blocked in the Senate due to a Republican opposition led by McConnell.”