The police responding to the Pelosi residence weren’t some random group of officers. They were specifically engaged in the protection of the House Speaker and her family.
As such there should have been instant recognition of her husband and a speedy engagement of the suspect. It doesn’t mean they come in guns a blazin but a quick take down of the suspect was within the bounds of reason.
I think the police did the right thing by not doing anything “quick” in this situation, from what the video showed. For all they knew when the door opened there could have been another intruder around the corner, armed with more than a hammer. No, they were right to take a look and ask a question or two to see WTF was going on. It’s unfortunate the guy suddenly went psycho like that.
I disagree. You have a break in of a high profile person you’re trained to recognize. They should have placed themselves between the invader and Mr Pelosi immediately with the intent to separate him from harm.
For all they knew there could have been another intruder around the corner armed with more than a hammer.
Secret service agents are trained/expected to take a bullet to protect the President. Local police officers may be expected to take on some risk as they carry out their jobs, but nothing like that; they’re not expected to function as human shields.
If a perp is actively attacking someone with a hammer, a cop will do what he’s gotta do to stop it, as these ones did. Waiting to intervening at that point was also made easier by the fact that DePape was fixated on attacking Pelosi, taking his attention off of the cops. But until Depape started swinging (or threatening to swing) that hammer, it made sense to wait, assess the situation, try to deescalate.
The deadbolts I know of don’t need a key to unlock from the inside. It’s just a knob/lever. That’s the way my house is anyway. Or you could simply leave the key in it on the inside.
Yeah, i wrote that wrong. Their deadbolts required keys, and they were renters, so they couldn’t change that. They did leave a key in the lock when they were home.
Deadbolts with inside knobs (“thumb-turns” in the trade) and deadbolts with inside locks / keyholes are sold side by side at Home Depot, etc. There might be some states which prohibit the inside key models for residential use, but I can’t say for sure. That’s not been true in the 6 states I’ve lived in.
The inside-key models are commonly used for doors which have adjacent glass panels. You want to prevent a burglar from breaking the glass adjacent to the deadbolt knob and door knob, then reaching around to unbolt and open the door from the inside. Use an inside-key deadbolt and keep the key a couple more feet away on a hook or in a drawer and that problem is solved. At some admitted risk to quick and especially to panicky egress.
we had the key deadbolt in my family home. half the door had glass diamond panels. you could break the glass and get to a knob/lever, the key was necessary.
in case of emergencies, we did have a key nearby that you could grab to get out.
I don’t know where you’re getting this deescalation mindset from. The police should have separated Pelosi from his hammer enhanced intruder before he attacked and not after. It’s not a function of 20/20 hindsight. It’s just common sense.
OK, imagine you’re one of those cops. How confident are you about your chances of successfully subduing DePape without getting your own skull caved in?
Just watched the clip again, and sure looked like the lead cop woulda had an opportunity to insert himself in a manner lessening the chance of damage - when Pelosi still had his hand on the hammer. But that woulda required fast thinking/acting in a weird scene, and I appreciate the urge to try to talk him down.
Never bring a hammer to a gun fight? In all seriousness if Pelosi had his hand on the hammer then charge the intruder and grab the hammer with both hands.
Supposedly these officers were part of a dedicated security detail for VIPs, not ordinary DC street cops.
On one hand, you’d expect somebody on VIP security to be real aggressive about “Stop the (potential) threat to VIP first, ask questions later.”
OTOH, other than the hair-trigger alertness of the folks standing alongside the President outdoors, it’d be real easy for this VIP security force to become pretty much like shopping mall security guards. Sorta pro-forma presences whose view of their job it that it mostly entails standing around and looking vaguely menacing: all deterrence and no follow-up. Or mostly driving around nice neighborhoods looking at darkened fancy houses full of sleeping VIPs.
Sorta sounds to me like for whatever reasons good or bad, these guys brought Persona #2 to a Persona #1 situation. To their credit they changed modes quickly once it was obvious what they were dealing with. To their discredit, that was seconds or minutes too late.
DePape was convicted last year of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. He is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.
Thanks for the update.
30 years for a guy in his 50s - his life is over. That’s a long time to rot, but IMHO the right sentence in this case.
Maybe this “Pelosi hostage” will get to share in the thoughts and prayers given for the Jan. 6 hostages at the next Trump rally.
Just wanted to highlight some info from that sentencing update. A statement from DePape’s son, emphasis added:
“I think that’s quite sad. I think that’s a really long time, because if you think about it, he’s already nearly 50. Basically, it’s just a death sentence,” Gonzalez said before repeating the same conspiracy theories his father wrote about before the attack.
The old expression “like father, like son” in this case is a pretty scary prospect. And what are those conspiracy theories? From the article:
… he believed news outlets repeatedly lied about former President Donald Trump. In rants posted on a blog and online forum that were taken down after his arrest, DePape echoed the baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims a cabal of devil-worshipping pedophiles runs the U.S. government.
The other point is that DePape also faces further charges at the state level, so he’ll likely never see the light of day. But the son still walks among us, believing the same stuff. Not that I’m suggesting the son should be detained for what his father did, I’m just saying that the son, along with thousands of others, have bought into the same cult madness.
DePape and his son need help. A fair portion of our population needs help in the form of deprogramming from the sickness they have. It’s not a conservative or Republican thing that’s the problem here - there should always be room for various views and approaches to things. But the whole swallowing of conspiracy theories and then acting on them is a sickness - sadly there are a lot of people who have thrown their lives away under this spell. They need help.