A video released Friday shows the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during an attack at the couple’s home in California last year.
The police body-camera video shows suspect David DePape jostling for a hammer with 82-year-old Paul Pelosi and lunging toward him with the hammer over his head.
DePape tells the officers, “Everything’s good,” to which they respond by saying, “Drop the hammer.”
DePape then says, “Nope,” and proceeds to attack Pelosi with the hammer. The blow to Pelosi occurs off camera. Officers then rush into the house and jump on DePape. Pelosi, apparently unconscious, can be seen lying face down on the floor.
A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that video of the attack be made public. The court released the police body-camera footage, surveillance video from outside the couple’s home, audio of Pelosi’s 911 call, and audio of DePape’s comments to police.
Prosecutors have charged DePape, 43, in the attack, and he has pleaded not guilty in ongoing state and federal cases. He is being held in jail without bail. The San Francisco Public Defender’s office, which represents DePape, said it would issue a statement Friday, the Associated Press reports.
Pelosi later underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, and has since appeared in public wearing a hat and glove that covered his wounds.
Court filings in the case indicate that DePape was originally targeting the former speaker, not her husband. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., at the time of the attack.
“I’m sick of the insane f— level of lies coming out of Washington, D.C. I came here to have a little chat with his wife,” DePape said, according to the filing obtained by NBC News.
“I didn’t really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. I’m not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life,” he allegedly said.
Representatives for the congresswoman’s office did not immediately respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment on this story.
After news broke Thursday that the video would become public, the former House speaker appeared undecided on whether she would watch it.
“I mean, it would be a very hard thing to see an assault on my husband’s life,” she told reporters on Capitol Hill.
The Associated Press contributed.
Credit: marketwatch.com