Footage Of Paul Pelosi Attack Released By San Francisco Police

Following Wednesday’s order by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephan Murphy to release footage related to the October attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Chronicle has published a series of related clips.

One clip of security footage depicts the attacker, David Wayne DePape, clearly breaking in through a window of Pelosi’s San Francisco estate with a hammer. This could potentially put to rest some conspiracy theories claiming that DePape was let in by Paul Pelosi, either for sex or other seemingly fake reasons.

A recording of Pelosi’s 911 call was also released, where the former speaker’s husband is apparently attempting to walk a fine line between angering DePape, who is in the room and even present on the call at times, and conveying to the San Francisco police that he is in imminent danger of attack and is requesting police support. Toward the end of the call, Pelosi claims that DePape wants him to put the phone down and he is being told to hang up.

The San Francisco Chronicle also released the body camera footage of responding San Francisco police officer Kolby Wilmes, which directly shows the assault.

In the body camera footage, officers approach the front door and see Paul Pelosi and DePape both standing and holding opposite ends of DePape’s hammer. Pelosi appears to be holding an unknown drink in his other hand. In an uncomfortably calm manner, he addresses the police “hey guys.” The police ask what is going on, and order DePape to drop the hammer. He refuses, pulls the hammer out of Pelosi’s hand, and strikes him in the head with it. Police then tackle and restrain DePape as Pelosi remains knocked out on the floor of his house. Police then call for medics to arrive.

DePape has pleaded not guilty to six charges brought against him by the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. His lawyer, Adam Lipson, has argued against the release of the footage citing the potential for such information to create prejudices among potential jurors.

DePape has been indicted, and the footage released will almost certainly be used against him in his upcoming trial. The footage could raise questions about whether responding officers could have done more to prevent Paul Pelosi from being attacked.