Footage of the attack on former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband has been released to the public after a judge on Wednesday denied prosecutors’ request to keep it secret. Prosecutors have charged 42-year-old David DePape in connection with the attack. In the police bodycam footage, Pelosi can be seen trying to keep his attacker at a distance by keeping his hand on the hammer DePape entered the home with.
A police officer can be heard saying: “How are you doing? What’s going on man?”
DePape appears to reply, “everything’s good” as he tries to remove Pelosi’s hand from the hammer by grabbing his right arm.
The officer is seen shining a light inside the property as he asks the intruder to “drop the hammer,” prompting a struggle between DePape and Pelosi which resulted in a vicious attack on then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
DePape can be seen raising the hammer as Pelosi stumbles backwards to escape him but the intruder manages to regain full control of the hammer before starting to hit the 82-year-old Pelosi.
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As the attack unravels, the officer filming the incident pushes a colleague into the home as the duo scrambles to separate DePape and Pelosi.
The fellow officer manages to stop the intruder by launching himself at him and forcing DePape on the ground as his colleague tries to drag the attacker away from his victim by the belt.
The shocking footage also shows Pelosi motionless on the ground following the hammer attack as well as a result of DePape seemingly falling onto him as the police officer intervened.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen M. Murphy ruled there was no reason to keep the footage secret, especially after prosecutors played it in open court during a preliminary hearing last month.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office handed over the evidence to Murphy on Wednesday following a court hearing.
Murphy asked the court clerk’s office to distribute it to the media which was released on Friday afternoon.
DePape pleaded not guilty last month to six charges, including attempted murder. Police have said DePape told them there was “evil in Washington” and he wanted to harm Nancy Pelosi because she was second in line to the presidency. His case is pending.
Responding to the attack in November, the former Speaker said the incident had been particularly “hard” on her because her husband’s attacker had said she was the main target of his rage.
Speaking to CNN, she said: “For me, this is really the hard part because Paul was not the target and he’s the one who is paying the price.
“He was not looking for Paul, he was looking for me.”
Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives after the midterm elections.
Republicans elected California Republican US Rep. Kevin McCarthy as the new speaker. Pelosi will remain in Congress, but she stepped down as Democratic leader. She was replaced by Hakeem Jeffries from New York.
