A 42-year-old man accused of assaulting the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week was accused by federal prosecutors of assault and attempted kidnapping, the department said. American justice.
David DePape, 42, is accused of raiding Pelosis’s San Francisco residence early Friday and assaulting Paul Pelosi, 82.
The two counts DePape faces lead to up to 50 years in prison, the department said.
Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a fractured skull and injuries to his hands and right arm, although doctors are expecting a complete recovery, according to Nancy Pelosi’s office.
The incident fueled fears of political violence ahead of the November 8 mid-term elections that will decide control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in one of the most vitriolic and polarized US campaigns in decades.
Earlier on Friday, police were sent for a “welfare” check based on an encrypted 911 emergency call from the residence, police said.
The agents arrived at the front door and saw DePape and Pelosi grappling with a hammer.
As the officers yelled at the two men to drop the tool, DePape grabbed the hammer and hit Pelosi at least once.
The officers then attacked, disarmed and arrested DePape, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said.
The San Francisco Police Department recovered the zip ties from Pelosi’s bedroom and the hallway near the front door of the residence.
Police also found a roll of duct tape, a white rope, a hammer, a pair of rubber and cloth gloves, and a newspaper in DePape’s backpack, the Justice Department said.
Scott said hours after the attack that it was not a random act of violence.
The intruder shouted, “Where’s Nancy?” before attacking, according to a person briefed on the incident.
The 82-year-old Speaker of the House herself, second Democrat in line with the US presidency, was at the time in Washington DC.
She flew to San Francisco to be with her husband and on Saturday released a statement expressing her dismay that “a violent man broke into our family home, asked to confront me and brutally attacked my husband Paul. “. .
After being arrested at home, DePape was taken to a San Francisco hospital, but it was unclear whether he was there for medical or psychiatric treatment, or both.