Police body-camera video of Paul Pelosi hammer attack released

Police body-camera footage released on Friday afternoon shed more light on the brutal hammer attack last October against Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic congresswomen and then House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The shocking video shows officers arriving at the front door of the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and knocking loudly on the door.

Police charge in to find Pelosi collapsed on the floor, unconscious and struggling to breathe, as they grapple with the suspect, who has fallen on the floor, partially on top of Pelosi, then arrest him.

Pelosi, 82, suffered a skull fracture and injuries to his hand and arm in the attack, requiring him to undergo surgery. He remained hospitalized for nearly a week as he recovered.

She was in Washington at the time and swiftly flew back to California to be with her husband.

Investigators noted that DePape listed other political figures he wished to target, including the California governor, Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat.

The attack intensified concerns over the growing threat of political violence in the US. In recent months, a number of senior government officials have seen their homes and offices targeted. Last June, a man carrying a gun was arrested outside the home of the supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh after threatening to kill him.

Members of Congress have reported an increase in violent threats as well, particularly after the deadly Capitol attack on 6 January 2021. The US Capitol police reported this month that the number of its threat investigations dropped in 2022 but remains alarmingly high.

In the wake of the attack, many Democrats, including Joe Biden, called on Republicans to use their platform to denounce such violence rather than downplaying it.

Pelosi had announced after the midterms that she would step down from her leadership role while continuing to represent her district in Washington, and she effectively handed the baton to the New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, who became House minority leader in the new Congress.