Jan. 27, 2023 San Francisco police body camera footage and audio recordings of the attack on the husband of U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi were made public two days after a judge ordered their release.
By Nora Mishanec, Annie Vainshtein, Rachel Swan and Dustin Gardiner Source San Francisco Chronicle Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Law enforcement officials on Friday released a trove of audio and video recordings capturing what happened before and after Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, was attacked with a hammer at the couple’s San Francisco home in October.
The recordings expose the brutality and senselessness of the violence, reveal details about Paul Pelosi’s efforts to summon help, and raise questions about whether San Francisco police could have done more to intervene. They also underscore the viciousness of moves by right-wing activists and media outlets to spread false and often homophobic claims about what happened.
A video from a body camera worn by San Francisco police Officer Kolby Wilmes shows him and Officer Kyle Cagney knocking on the door of the Pelosi’s stately, three-story home in Pacific Heights. There is no indication they understood he was the husband of the then- U.S. House Speaker. However, Paul Pelosi earlier identified himself multiple times to the 911 dispatcher who received his emergency call.
The footage shows that Paul Pelosi opened the door. Just feet from the doorway, David DePape and Pelosi stood side-by-side, each with hands on a hammer.
“Hi,” DePape said. “How you doing?”
An officer responded, “What’s going on, man?”
“Everything’s good,” DePape said.
“Drop the hammer!” an officer ordered.
“Um, nope,” DePape responded.
DePape then wrestled the hammer out of Pelosi’s right hand and struck him hard on the head, knocking him out as the officers rushed in to tackle DePape.
The dramatic recordings were made public two days after San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy ordered their release.
Murphy sided with a consortium of media outlets, including The San Francisco Chronicle, that argued police body-camera footage, surveillance videos and 911 audio from the incident should be widely accessible, given the intense public interest in the case and the significance of the attack.
Portions of the materials in question were played in court and admitted into evidence during defendant David Wayne DePape’s preliminary hearing.
Depape, 42, has pleaded not guilty to six state charges brought by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, including attempted murder, and faces additional charges in a parallel proceeding in federal court. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Adam Lipson, DePape’s attorney, opposed the release of the recordings, arguing their dissemination would prejudice potential jurors and prevent his client from getting a fair trial. The District Attorney’s Office also raised concerns about making the recordings public.
Lipson told the judge he feared people would digitally manipulate the recordings. He also argued that the release of the recordings would fuel more unfounded conspiracy theories about the attack, which have proliferated on social media and conservative news outlets.
The judge said such concerns were not compelling enough to withhold the recordings.
DePape stands accused of breaking into the Pelosi’s home just after 2 a.m. on Oct. 28 with the intention to kidnap and interrogate Nancy Pelosi.
Nancy Pelosi’s office declined to comment on the release of the recordings Friday morning.
A native of Canada, DePape had struggled with mental illness, people who knew him have told The Chronicle. In recent years, he had become consumed with far-right politics and conspiracy theories, and he posted bigoted rants on personal websites that appeared to have no audience.
DePape allegedly used a hammer to bash through a glass rear entryway to the Pelosi home, then found Paul Pelosi asleep in his bedroom. City prosecutors, in a court filing, said he gripped the hammer in his right hand, and white plastic zip ties in his left, as he asked, “Where’s Nancy?”
Paul Pelosi soon made a surreptitious 911 call from his bathroom.
The full-length recording of the 911 call, also released Friday, captures a harrowing exchange between Pelosi and a dispatcher, in which he made several attempts to convey his fear about the intruder in his home.
It also makes clear that Pelosi identified himself as the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi within seconds of calling 911.
The nearly 3-minute call began with Pelosi alerting the dispatcher that there was a “gentleman here waiting for my wife to come back, Nancy Pelosi.” The dispatcher asked him if he needed police, fire or medical assistance, to which Pelosi demurred. But he asked if U.S. Capitol Police officers were around.
“Is the Capitol Police around? They’re usually here at the house protecting my wife,” Pelosi said.
“No, this is San Francisco Police,” the dispatcher said.
After a brief, mostly inaudible exchange with DePape, Pelosi told the dispatcher that the man in his home “thinks everything’s good.”
“I got a problem, but he thinks everything’s good. This gentleman just came into the house and he wants to wait here for my wife to come home,” Pelosi said.
The dispatcher then asked Pelosi if he knew who the man was. Pelosi responded that he did not, and that the man was telling him “not to do anything.”
The 911 dispatcher followed by asking Pelosi for his address, and then his name.
“Anyway, this guy says that he thinks … he’s telling me to put the phone down and just do what he says,” Pelosi said.
The dispatcher then asked Pelosi what the intruder’s name was, and the intruder himself responded.
“My name’s David,” said DePape, adding later that he was a “friend of theirs.”
The call ended with the dispatcher asking again if Pelosi knew who DePape was, to which he said he did not.
“He’s telling me I’m being very lazy, so I got to stop talking with you. No, he wants me to get the hell off the phone.”
Officers Wilmes and Cagney, dispatched to the home after the call, reported that they walked to the front of the home and rang the doorbell. Inside, prosecutors have said, DePape ordered Pelosi not to open the door, but he did anyway.
The body-camera video released Friday shows what happened next. Prosecutors have said DePape held the bottom of the hammer with one hand and Pelosi’s right arm with the other, as Pelosi gripped the same hammer, near the top of the handle.
Following the attack, Pelosi underwent emergency surgery to repair a fractured skull and wounds to his hands and right arm. He spent six days in the hospital before being released home to continue his recovery.
DePape was hospitalized for his own injuries, which he sustained from allegedly slamming his entire body into a glass door to break into the Pelosi home, prosecutors said during the preliminary hearing.
While in custody, he allegedly told a police investigator about breaking into the home, his plans to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage, and his eventual decision to hurt Paul Pelosi. Investigators said they found two hammers, a pair of rubber gloves and a sword at the couple’s home after the attack.
Also released Friday was an audio recording of an 18-minute interview with DePape conducted by a San Francisco police sergeant after his arrest.
DePape spouted a host of unfounded conspiracy theories. He said he targeted the Pelosis because the speaker had unfairly smeared former President Donald Trump with falsehoods. DePape likened the situation to the Watergate scandal, suggesting the Democratic National Committee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi had conspired to spy on his campaign.
“It originates with Hillary, but like Pelosi ran with the lie as much as or more than anyone. Honestly, like, day in, day out, the person who was on the TV lying everyday was Pelosi,” DePape said. “They are criminals. Not only were they spying on a rival campaign. They were submitting fake evidence to spy on a rival campaign, covering it up, persecuting the rival campaign. It’s just like an endless f— crime spree.”
Nora Mishanec, Annie Vainshtein, Rachel Swan and Dustin Gardiner are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com, avainshtein@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com, dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @annievain @rachelswan @dustingardiner