A civil trial began on Monday in Washington, D.C., where the widow of a police officer who took his own life following the Jan. 6 events is suing two demonstrators. She claims these demonstrators were responsible for the “brain injury” and “severe depression” that led to his demise after defending the Capitol.

“My client continues to endure the effects of that day,” attorney Richard Link stated to jurors about his client Erin Smith, the widow of Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith. The officer ended his life just nine days after reportedly being attacked by Dr. David Walls-Kaufman, who was part of the massive crowd that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Time stood still,” Link said about Erin Smith”s feelings on the day Jeffrey died, according to The Associated Press.

“I told him I loved him, said I would see him when he got home,” Erin Smith later testified.

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Jeffrey Smith used his service weapon to take his life while on the way to work, his wife says.

Defendants Taylor Taranto and Walls-Kaufman, both of Washington state, are facing a wrongful-death lawsuit that Smith’s lawyers filed in August 2021.

During the Jan. 6 riot, Jeffrey Smith was allegedly struck in the face by a metal tactical “cane” that Walls-Kaufman — a D.C. chiropractor — was wielding that day, according to Smith’s complaint. Taranto is accused of giving Walls-Kaufman the cane.

“Kaufman was part of the insurrectionist mob inside the US Capitol and was being escorted out of the building by MPD officers,” the complaint says. “Co-Defendant Taranto handed a cane or crowbar (or similar object) to Kaufman. Kaufman, in turn, violently swung the cane and struck Officer Smith in the face/head.”

Erin Smith’s filing describes the attack as a violent crime of opportunity, with her husband being “in a particularly vulnerable situation because his face shield was up — “leaving his face and eyes exposed.” She says Kaufman and Taranto “specifically and maliciously targeted Officer Smith” because his visor was in the upright position, making him vulnerable to the “brutal and vicious attack,” the complaint charges.

“As a direct and proximate result of the intentional assault … which, in turn, caused Smith’s death, Erin Smith sustained pecuniary loss, mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, loss of society, loss of companionship, loss of comfort of protection, loss of marital care, loss of filial care, loss of attention, loss of advice, loss of counsel, loss of training, loss of guidance and loss of consortium,” her lawyers allege.

Erin Smith told jurors Monday that finding out Jeffrey shot himself with his service revolver was “the most traumatic words I’ve ever heard,” according to AP.

“You just don’t know what to do,” she said.