Notably, the Jan. 6th Committee hearings included some harrowing testimony last month from Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, who was caught in the “war zone” next to Sicknick:

All of a sudden, I see movement to the left of me, and I turned and it was Officer Sicknick with his head in his hands. And he was ghostly pale, which, I figured at the point, he had been sprayed. And I was concerned. My cop alarm bells went off. Because if you get sprayed with pepper spray, you’re going to turn red. He turned just about as pale as this sheet of paper. So I looked to see what had hit him, what had happened, and that’s when I got hit as well.

If, after reading this account, you are still convinced that it’s merely a remarkable coincidence that Sicknick collapsed with a stroke several hours later and died the next day, you’re welcome to that narrative. But I don’t think it’s misleading or out of line for Democrats (including President Biden) to continue to describe Sicknick as a fallen officer who died in the line of duty, or to say that his death was the result of the Capitol Hill riot instigated by Trump’s Big Lie about the stolen election. If that’s political exploitation, then it’s one in which Sicknick’s family concurs.