Aug 10, 2024 02:46 AM IST
A cop who was assigned to the Pennsylvania rally told a fellow officer that he had asked the Secret Service to secure the roof before Thomas Crooks opened fire.
A police officer who was assigned to the Pennsylvania rally where Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt angrily told a fellow officer that he had asked the Secret Service to secure the roof before gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire, body camera footage has revealed. A Butler Township Police Department cop is heard fuming in a footage published by the Wall Street Journal.
What does the footage reveal?
“I f–king told them they need to post a guy f–king over here,” one officer is heard saying shortly after a shot rang out.
“Who?” another cop asks.
“The Secret Service,” the officer responds. “I told them that f–king Tuesday.”
The footage also reveals that there was some confusion about whether the roof was actually covered. “I thought you guys were on the roof,” one cop tells the officer who claimed he had 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 cop asks.
Butler Township also released body camera footage that reveals the moment a cop is boosted onto the roof, where he finds the barrel of the suspect’s weapon.
Crooks was killed by Secret Service Snipers after he opened fire, injuring Trump and two others, and killing one attendee. The Secret Service faced massive criticism for failing to secure the roof, following which Director Kimberly Cheatle tendered her resignation.
During the joint congressional hearing, Acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe said that he was “ashamed” of the lapses due to which the tragedy took place. “I laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight,” Rowe said. “What I saw made me ashamed.”
“As a career law enforcement officer, and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured,” he added.
