A San Francisco court has released the shocking police bodycam footage showing the moment Paul Pelosi was violently assaulted with a hammer in his home in October.
Paul, the husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, was asleep at their San Francisco home just before 2:00am on October 28 when 42-year-old David DePape broke in and beat him with a hammer, prosecutors allege.
The video shows two police officers arriving at the Pelosi’s home, knocking on the door and waiting around 20 seconds before it is answered.
Paul, in a pajama top and boxer shorts, answers the door as he and DePape both vie for control of a hammer.
They each have a hand on the weapon while Paul has a drink in his left hand. The video was released alongside Paul’s 911 call and the release of surveillance video showing the suspect outside of the family’s home.
Paul Pelosi appears to answer the door in boxer shorts and a pajama top while David DePape stands behind him
The pair both appear to be holding on to a hammer, vying for control of it
An officer asks, ‘What’s going on man?’ DePape replies, ‘Everything’s good.’
The officer says, ‘Drop the hammer.’ The suspect tells them, ‘Ummm… nope.’
Then, Paul attempts to twist the hammer out of DePape’s hand, but the suspect regains control of the weapon and begins to strike multiple times.
The two police officers rush in and tackle DePape, shouting, ‘Give me your f*****g hands.’
They restrain the attacker as Paul lies collapsed and prone on the floor with liquid and ice on the ground around the two men. Officials later said Paul Pelosi woke up in a pool of his own blood.
The indictment in the case said that blood was ‘swelling’ out of the victim’s head and that Paul required surgery on a skull fracture in two places and was treated for serious injuries to his right arm and hands.
Paul makes an attempt to twist the hammer out of DePape’s hand but loses control
DePape is able to overpower the 82-year-old before attacking Pelosi
The moment when DePape begins to strike Paul Pelosi
Paul Pelosi is hit multiple times with the hammer leaving him unconscious as the officers rush in and arrest DePape
The 911 call, which was also released Friday, reveals Paul telling an emergency dispatcher that someone came into his home.
Paul is heard trying to alert the dispatcher to who he is and the danger he’s in as he says, ‘There’s a gentleman here just waiting for my wife to come back, Nancy Pelosi.’
When the dispatcher asks who the man is, DePape says, ‘I’m a friend of theirs.’ The over two minute long 911 call comes to an end as Paul tells the dispatcher the suspect has told him to get off the phone.
The 911 dispatcher was identified as Heather Grives at the time of DePape’s arrest by San Francisco Police Chief William Scott. She is a dispatch supervisor with more than 23 years experience in the city’s Department of Emergency Management.
The call came during a 16 hours shift for Grives. The department’s director Mary Ellen Carroll tweeted following the incident that ‘[Grives] utilized her training, experience and intuition to save a life.’
Following the arrest, officers called in a Code 3 meaning that the situation was a medical emergency requiring immediate response.
A screenshot of Capitol Police security footage shows David DePape outside the Pelosi home
Released footage from Capitol Police surveillance cameras that had been set up showed that DePape lurked outside the home for around four minutes. The recordings were not watched by officers in real time.
The video shows DePape walk up to a glass-panel door, leave and then return wearing a large backpack and carrying two other bags.
He set all the items down and pulled out a hammer, pausing to put on gloves, and used it to smash the door glass so he could step through an opening.
David DePape has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges stemming from the October assault
In response to the release, DePape’s lawyer, public defender Adam Lipson, said it was a ‘terrible mistake.’
He said in a statement, ‘Releasing this footage is disrespectful to Mr. Pelosi, and serves no purpose except to feed the public desire for spectacle and violence.’
Lipson continued: ‘The footage is inflammatory and could feed unfounded theories about this case, and we are extremely concerned about Mr. DePape’s ability to get a fair trial.’
Media requests for access to the material had been denied by the district attorney’s office thus adding to the wealth of conspiracy theories and false information spread about the attack in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections.
Prosecutors say DePape planned to ‘interrogate’ the former speaker and to break her knee caps if he felt he was being lied to.
He later told police that he believed Nancy Pelosi was the ‘leader of the pack of lies’ told by the Democratic Party and his actions were to ‘show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions.’
The release comes following Judge Stephen M. Murphy’s order on Wednesday which ruled that there was no legal reason to keep the footage private, against prosecutors wishes.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill following the release of the video, Pelosi said that she had not intention of viewing the footage or listening to the 911 call.
The day before the release, the California Democrat said, ‘I mean, it would be a very hard thing to see an assault on my husband’s life.’ Although she still said that she ‘respected’ the system.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill earlier this week, Pelosi said that she would find if ‘very difficult’ to watch the footage of the attack
Aerial footage showed broken panes and shattered glass at the backdoor of Pelosi’s home
FBI agents work outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi where her husband Paul Pelosi was ‘violently assaulted’ after a break-in at their house. Pictured October 28, 2022
A view of the home of Nancy and Paul Pelosi in San Francisco following October’s attack
Reporters were able to pick up copies of the video and audio at the clerks at the Hall of Justice alongside a criminal records request form and a payment of $25.
The video and audio has already been played in open court during a preliminary hearing against DePape in December.
In that hearing, prosecutors played portions of Paul Pelosi’s 911 call plus footage from Capitol police surveillance cameras, body cameras worn by the two police officers who arrived at the house, and video from DePape’s interview with police.
San Francisco-based attorney Thomas Burke disagreed with the earlier decisions not to release the video and audio.
He told the Associated Press, ‘You don’t eliminate the public right of access just because of concerns about conspiracy theories.’
When asked about her husband’s prognosis on Thursday, Nancy Pelosi told reporters: ‘It’s one day at a time. He’s made some progress but it will be three more months, I think, before he’s back to normal.’
Last week, the couple’s daughter, Alexandra revealed in an interview that her mother held exorcisms at the family’s home over Thanksgiving in the wake of the attack in an attempt to rid the home of evil spirits.
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.
Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives after the midterm elections. Republicans elected California Republican U.S. 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.
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