Newly released bodycam footage captures the moment a police officer is lifted onto the roof where Thomas Crooks, the would-be assassin of Donald Trump, was stationed -- and later revealed he warned agents about the spot. The officer finds himself facing the barrel of the gunman's weapon.
The footage, provided to Fox News Digital, was recorded by the Butler Township police officer who was boosted to the roof of AGR International on July 13. The officer tries to pull himself up, looks over the edge, and quickly jumps back down, and while Crooks is not visible in the video, the officer said that the shooter aimed his AR-15 at him.
Horrifying New Footage
In an instant, he drops back down to the ground and runs around the building, apparently alerting nearby officers and bystanders. With increasing scrutiny on the Secret Service's management of the incident, the officer was also heard claiming that he had previously warned agents about the exposed rooftop.
The video is silent at the beginning, but the audio activates halfway through, exposing the chaotic situation.
"He's wearing glasses and has long hair," the officer says, describing Crooks' backpack and the AR-15 rifle he was carrying.
"I f***ing told them they need to post a guy over here," the officer said, in separate footage obtained by CNN. "I told them that on Tuesday, told them to post guys over here."
Over the officer's radio, requests for an ambulance to be sent to the rally's VIP tent are audible.
After a brief period of the officers standing back and surrounding the building, they move forward and start helping each other climb onto the roof.
The officer who initially looked over the edge then requests to return to the roof, where Crooks is found dead with a long streak of blood running down the sloped rooftop.
The ledge he climbed onto was about 12 feet above the ground, and he fell around eight feet, injuring his ankle when Crooks aimed his weapon at him.
Failing to Stop Crooks
The officer couldn't draw his own gun on Crooks because both hands were occupied as he attempted to get onto the roof, as previously explained by Butler Township police Lt. Matthew Pearson, which is clearly shown in the bodycam footage.
"Before you motherf—–s came up here, I popped my head up there like an idiot by myself, dude," he says. "Then he turned around and I f—— dropped and I started f—— I was calling out, bro, f—— on top of the roof."
"F—— we're not on the same frequency?"
Additional body camera footage, obtained by the Wall Street Journal, revealed that Butler Township Police Department officers expressed their frustration with the Secret Service's choice to leave the roof—just 130 yards from where Trump was speaking—unmanned.
"I f–king told them they need to post a guy f–king over here," one officer is heard saying shortly after the shots rang out.
"Who?" another officer asks.
"The Secret Service," the officer responds. "I told them that f–king Tuesday."
The video also reveals that there was some uncertainty about whether the roof was secured. "I thought you guys were on the roof," one officer tells the cop who claims to have warned the Secret Service.
"No, we were inside," he responds. "I told them to post f–king guys over here."
"I wasn't even concerned about it because I thought someone was on the roof ... how in the hell can you lose a guy walking back here if someone is on the roof?" the other officer wonders.
