Bodycam footage that shows the local police officer from the Butler Township Police Department confronting the man who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump seconds before he fired the shots was released today.
Lt. Matthew Pearson, the acting chief of the Butler Township Police Department, had told Fox News Digital the video was almost ready for release.
The officer confronted the shooter after another officer lifted him up so he could grab the building’s roof 12 feet up, where the shooter was stationed. They were catalyzed into action after members of the crowd yelled that a suspicious person was on the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building.
When the police officer saw the shooter, the shooter pointed his firearm at him, prompting the officer to duck, lose his grip and fall to the ground roughly eight feet below, reportedly spraining his ankle. According to Pearson, the reason the officer did not fire at the shooter was because he was hanging from the roof.
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“F****ing this close, bro. Dude, he turned around on me,” the officer who confronted the shooter said after he was back on level ground. “Before you motherf****s came up here, I popped my head up there like an idiot by myself, dude,” the officer who was boosted onto the roof said. “Then he turned around and I f***ing dropped and I started f***ing, I was calling out, bro, f***ing on top of the roof. F***, we’re not on the same frequency?” he continued.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe argued that the officer interrupting the shooter’s preparations might have saved Trump’s life, telling the New York Post, “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.”
“Can you imagine 10 seconds before that?” he added. “That the president was looking straight ahead and where that bullet could have potentially landed.”