Video and audio evidence from the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband was released Friday, showing for the first time the sequence of events that ended with 82 year-old
Paul Pelosi
being knocked unconscious with a hammer as police officers tackled his assailant.
Some of the evidence was previously shown in court proceedings in the case against David DePape, who is being held without bond on charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse in the Oct. 28 attack on Mr. Pelosi. Mr. DePape has pleaded not guilty.
The evidence released Friday, which includes police body-camera footage, is the first opportunity for the public to see and hear in detail the events leading up to and including a predawn assault, which focused attention on violence aimed at politicians in the U.S.
Its release came after a coalition of news organizations filed a motion earlier this month requesting to see the evidence, which prosecutors had previously withheld. Judge Stephen Murphy of San Francisco Superior Court granted the motion Wednesday.
Adam Lipson, a San Francisco deputy public defender representing Mr. DePape, said it was, “a terrible mistake to release this evidence, and in particular the video. Releasing this footage is disrespectful to Mr. Pelosi, and serves no purpose except to feed the public desire for spectacle and violence.”
He also said the release would make it hard for his client to get a fair trial.
Mrs. Pelosi, who was speaker of the House of Representatives until earlier this month, said Friday that she had no intention of watching the newly released evidence and thanked people for their prayers.
The video begins with footage from a Capitol Police camera trained on the Pelosi home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood; it shows Mr. DePape—wearing shorts and a jacket—walking up to a rear entrance at 3:04 a.m., taking out a claw hammer from a bag and putting on gloves.
After looking around several times, he initially pushed the head of the hammer against the glass in a set of french doors. When it wouldn’t open, he swung with full force 16 times until the glass shattered and then pushed his way through, shoulder first.
The next evidence released is audio of Mr. Pelosi’s call to 911 a few minutes later, in which he tried to convey to a dispatcher that he needed help.
Mr. Pelosi told Mr. DePape he had to use the bathroom and called 911 from a phone charging there, a person with knowledge of the incident previously said.
“I guess I called by mistake,” Mr. Pelosi said at first to the operator. After she asked if he needed help, he told her, “There’s a gentleman here just waiting for my wife to come back,
Nancy Pelosi.
She’s not going to be here for days, so I guess we’ll have to wait.”
When asked by the 911 operator if he knew the man, Mr. Pelosi said he didn’t. Mr. DePape can then be heard saying, “My name is David. I’m a friend of theirs.”
Mr. Pelosi then hung up after saying, “He wants me to get the hell off the phone.”
Body camera footage of two San Francisco police officers dispatched to the home subsequently show them knocking on the front door. Mr. Pelosi opened the door, looking disheveled and not wearing pants, with his hand on a hammer that Mr. DePape is holding. After an officer asks, “What’s going on, man?”, Mr. DePape answered “Everything’s good.”
An officer then ordered him to “drop the hammer,” after which the suspect answered “Um, nope” and began struggling with the smaller Mr. Pelosi for control. He quickly pinned the older man’s right arm to free the hammer and then raised it over his head to strike Mr. Pelosi.
A door obscures Mr. Pelosi at this point, but the footage then shows the officers tackling Mr. DePape and handcuffing him as he lies on the floor, partially atop Mr. Pelosi, who appears to be unconscious.
Mr. Pelosi was treated at a local trauma center and later released home, where his wife said he faced a long recovery. Mrs. Pelosi said Friday that her husband is making progress on his recovery, but it will take more time.
—Natalie Andrews contributed to this article.
Write to Jim Carlton at Jim.Carlton@wsj.com
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