Police body camera footage of Pelosi attack released

VIEWER WARNING: THE VIDEO ABOVE IS GRAPHIC AND MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME.

(NewsNation) — Police body camera video was released Friday showing the attack on former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their San Francisco home.

In the video, officers knock on the door of the Pelosis’ home. A few moments later, the door opens to show suspect David DePape holding a hammer next to Paul Pelosi. The two men tangle for the weapon before DePape attacks Pelosi and the two fall to the ground and officers intervene.

Pelosi, apparently unconscious, can be seen lying face down on the floor in his pajama top and underwear. Officials later said he woke up in a pool of his own blood.

The footage of the attack was released after San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen M. Murphy denied prosecutors’ request to keep it secret.

Newly released security footage of the patio outside Pelosi’s home shows DePape walking around the backyard looking through a backpack. He ends up taking what looks like a hammer and putting on a pair of gloves before approaching the home and smashing the window.

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, according to Thomas R. Burke, a San Francisco-based lawyer who represented The Associated Press and a host of other news agencies, including CBS News, in their attempt to access the evidence.

Paul Pelosi was asleep at the couple’s San Francisco home on Oct. 28 when someone broke in and beat him with a hammer. Prosecutors have charged 42-year-old DePape in connection with the attack.

During a preliminary hearing last month, 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.

But when news organizations asked for copies of that evidence, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office refused to release it. The attack, which occurred just days before the 2022 midterm elections, prompted intense speculation from the public that fueled the spread of false information.

The district attorney’s office argued releasing the footage publicly would only allow people to manipulate it in their quest to spread false information.

Former Speaker Pelosi has indicated that she is unsure if she will choose to watch the footage. “It will be a very hard thing to see an assault on my husband’s life,” Pelosi told reporters on Thursday. 

NewsNation affiliate KRON in San Francisco and The Associated Press contributed to this report.