House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi, 82, managed to call 911 and alert the dispatcher about his situation without the attacker even getting to know about it. Paul Pelosi, reportedly, spoke in code to alert the 911 operator after which police reached his San Francisco home and arrested the attacker.
David DePape, the alleged attacker, was unaware that Pelosi had called 911 from his cell phone or that he was communicating in code. The hammer-wielding maniac allegedly broke into Pelosi's San Francisco home at 2 a.m. Friday and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer after not being able to find Nancy Pelosi in the home.
Presence of Mind
While his attacker was still inside the house at 2:27 am and attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer, he somehow managed to call 911 from his mobile without the attacker getting to know and summoned the police to his $6 million San Francisco home. He was able to communicate with the operator in code, nevertheless, for as long as possible in order for help to arrive, while avoiding more enragement from his attacker.
"What's going on? Why are you here? What are you going to do to me?" CNN reported that Pelosi allegedly said this so as to notify 911 of the emergency without alerting DePape to the call.
Heather Grimes, the dispatcher, had a feeling that something wasn't right, so she asked that a quick wellness check be done on the house.
The operator then made a call to police dispatch, describing the incident: "He states there is a male in the home and that he is going to wait for his wife. He stated that he doesn't know who the male is but that his name is David and that he is a friend. He sounded somewhat confused."
A "code 3," the police radio code for an emergency, is then announced by the police dispatch.
"It is really thanks to Mr. Pelosi having the ability to be able to make that call, and truly the attention and the instincts of that dispatcher to realize that something was wrong in that situation and to make the police call a priority so they got there within two minutes to respond to this situation," San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told CNN.
Alert Dispatcher
During a press conference on Friday, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott emphasized on the dispatcher's "good instincts" and praised her for reading "between the lines." Pelosi, 82, tried to grab the hammer from DePape's hands as the police arrived on the scene.
In the altercation that was seen on the police bodycam, DePape is accused of striking Pelosi over the head with the weapon. Pelosi underwent emergency surgery to treat a fractured skull and severe wounds to his right arm and hands.
Doctors expect him to recover fully.
DePape allegedly shouted "Where's Nancy?" during the break-in while looking for Nancy Pelosi before launching the savage assault. The House Speaker's security team was in Washington at the time.
Later, on Friday, information about the attacker's apparent background as a former nudist from British Columbia who struggled with drugs and wrote irrational COVID conspiracy theories, anti-Semitic tirades, racial epithets, and insane screeds on religion online came to light.
DePape, 42, a hemp jewelry maker, was arrested by police after breaking into a house in the middle of the night while still wearing only his underpants.
Police said that they saw the suspect struggle with Pelosi before grabbing the hammer and striking him, severely injuring his head, arm, and hand when they reached on the scene at the residence in the affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood.
A manifesto with anti-government Covid ideals and a list of further lawmakers DePape intended to attack was discovered when he was arrested, according to KTVU.
Republican and Democratic leaders condemned the assault as the House Speaker hurried from Washington, DC, to San Francisco to be by her husband's side. President Joe Biden described the attack as "horrible."
