Amid court proceedings in San Francisco, California, on Friday, the San Francisco County Superior Court published footage from officers’ body-worn cameras of the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
The October 28, 2022, attack on Pelosi, 82, sent him to the hospital for emergency surgery to repair a skull fracture. The accused, David DePape, has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and the release of the footage came after it was shown in court as part of the case against DePape.
The whole incident unfolded in a few brief moments a little after 2:30 a.m. local time. The footage shows several officers responding to the call, approaching the Pelosi home and knocking on the front door.
Warning: the following footage may disturb some viewers. Discretion is advised.
“Everything is good,” DePape responds, struggling with Pelosi’s hand on the hammer.
“Drop the hammer!” the officer commands.
“Umm, nope,” DePape replies, before wrestling the hammer away from Pelosi and immediately swinging it over his head at Pelosi.
“Oh sh*t!” one of the officers says and they pile into the house. Pelosi had fallen on the hallway floor after the blow, and the police pushed DePape down on top of him.
The officers then wrestle with DePape, demanding he give them his hand.
Briefly, the camera pans down at Pelosi, while he lies motionless on the floor, and a puddle of blood seems to be visible near his head. He would later be rushed to the emergency room with a skull fracture. He is expected to make a full recovery.
DePape, 42, was apprehended and charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse, as well as federal charges of assaulting an immediate family member of a federal official and attempted kidnapping of a federal officer. He has pleaded guilty to all charges.
According to prosecutors, DePape raved to police about a number of conspiracy theories after being arrested. They said he invaded the Pelosi residence with the intention of taking the House speaker hostage. He repeatedly demanded to know from Paul where she was – she was in fact in Washington, DC, on the other side of the country at the time.
He also reportedly intended to target other public figures, including Governor Gavin Newsom, US President Joe Biden’s prodigal businessman son Hunter Biden, and Hollywood actor Tom Hanks.
YouTube policitcal commentator Tim Pool told his 1.3 million subscribers the video raised more questions about what happened that night.
‘You can’t actually see the attack on camera. You can see DePape raise a hammer… The theory for some time among the more conservative leaning groups is that Paul Pelosi was having some kind of gay love romp that went sour and the police came to respond and it ‘went south’.
‘I think based on the statements made, based on how Paul Pelosi is talking to the police, he’s either drugged up or drunk. Drunk may be the simple answer, because in the video he’s holding some kind of drink. I don’t know if he’s drinking. I assume based on the history of the Pelosi’s he probably was drunk, which made this very difficult for him to deal with. If the story is simply that somebody broke into his house and the dude was [inaudible] drunk, and didn’t know what to do because he was drunk, the story kind of starts to make sense. But outside of that, the idea Paul Pelosi’s had a guy walk into his house which was unsecure and no security cameras and nothing, and he’s just calling the police confused ‘I’m think I’m calling you by mistake. This guy’s waiting for my wife.’
‘There’s other things of this story that need to be addressed.. David DePape has pleaded not guilty… The son of DePape says he’s not right wing and for all we know he was a sex slave. And if you thought the story stops there you are wrong, because apparently the Pelosi’s brought in priests to do exorcisms. This story is weird, it’s really weird.’
