New police body camera videos released on Thursday show a police officer confronting would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks just prior to the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at his July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The body camera footage, which was obtained by a Fox News records request, was recorded by two police officers from the Butler Township Police Department who attempted to stop Crooks just seconds before he fired shots from his DPMS AR-15 rifle at the former president, which led to Trump being struck in the ear, a retired fire chief being killed, and two other rally attendees being injured.
In the video, one police officer can be seen helping lift another officer onto the roof where the Trump shooter was positioned. Butler Township Manager Thomas Knights previously told Fox News that Crooks pointed his gun at the officer, causing the officer to duck, lose his grip on the edge of the roof, and fall to the ground, resulting in an ankle sprain injury.
Fox News reported that Butler Township Police Department Lt. Matthew Pearson said the officer was unable to draw his gun and fire at Crooks as he was hanging from the edge of the roof.
“F-cking this close, bro. Dude, he turned around on me,” the officer can be heard saying in Thursday’s body camera video.
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Thursday’s video also shows Crooks surrounded by law enforcement officers after countersnipers fatally shot the would-be assassin. One officer can be heard saying, “I’m f-cking p-ssed. We couldn’t find him.”
The officer who tried to confront Crooks on the roof can be heard adding, “Before you motherf-ckers came up here, I popped my head up there like an idiot by myself, dude. Then he turned around, and I f-cking dropped, and I started f-cking; I was calling out, ‘Bro, f-cking on top of the roof.’ F-cking, we’re not on the same frequency?”
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe suggested in a statement to The New York Post that the officer who attempted to confront Crooks on the roof might have helped save the former president’s life. “Can you imagine 10 seconds before that? That the president was looking straight ahead and where that bullet could have potentially landed,” Slupe said.
Slupe added, “If I’m interrupted, and I move my gun, you are going to have to reassess that whole situation at this point, so yes, you can make a case that those two officers saved the president’s life.”
