A local police officer who encountered a would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump “did not back down,” but instead tried to grab his gun, falling backward and being injured in the process. Butler County Commissioner Edward Natali said the officer is now in a “pretty bad” mental state and explained that the media is wrongly blaming the local officer for the incident that happened Saturday night in Butler, Pennsylvania.
talk Breitbart News DailyNatali explained that seven local police officers were tasked with directing traffic and nothing else.
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“I will say that the building was discussed earlier this week. That was confirmed to me. I was not directly involved in all of the preparations, but my team had a very good operational plan for that day, but it was all traffic control,” he said, emphasizing that they were “strictly there for traffic control.”
“The only responsibility of the Secret Service, Pennsylvania State Police, Butler County Sheriff’s Office and Butler County Police was traffic control,” he said, correcting the record by pointing out that the local officer who witnessed the shooter on the roof was not climbing a ladder but was being held up by another person.
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“He was in no position to engage the suspect at all. In fact, he was being backed up. There was an officer on the ground who was holding him up, kind of like standing on his hands with his hands cupped in the military. He had his hands on the edge of the roof. He had his head up to see where the suspect was. The suspect had his rifle pointed at my officer’s head,” he said, noting the officer was not in a position to engage.
Moreover, he said, despite media speculation, officers “did not retreat.”
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“Obviously, he was not in a position to engage by any means and he did not back down. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to engage, it was that he couldn’t,” he said, explaining, “He took his hands off the roof to grab his gun and, of course, fell backwards and was actually injured in the process.”
He stressed that the officer had used the edge of the roof to “try to lift himself up, which meant he was in a very dangerous position.”
“He couldn’t hold the gun,” he said, describing his team of officers as “totally shaken up and demoralized.”
“I feel really bad for them. They’re getting hammered. And, you know, the media, social media. … We’ve set up counseling for them. You know, we’re all the commissioners, not just me. We’re talking to them, we’re supporting them. My wife bought them a bunch of meat and cheese trays and stuff yesterday, just to show them that we love you guys and we appreciate the work you do,” he said.
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Asked what the specific condition of the officer who encountered the shooter was, Natali said: “His mental state is pretty bad.”
“It’s pretty dire. I haven’t checked today, but he hasn’t reported unfit for duty at the moment. Yeah, I haven’t spoken to the police chief this morning,” he said.
Host Mike Slater asked if he could send a positive message to the officer letting him know that many people don’t blame him for what happened.
“Mike, you’re right. Honestly, I know where your heart is. I know your biblical worldview. It’s the same worldview as mine. So I have complete faith and confidence in your sincerity in those comments,” he said, expressing his goal of setting the record straight on Mike’s behalf.
“I’ve been involved in other media as well. The New York Times “I am a reporter. I just want everyone to know that my team is doing their job with honour and dispelling all the rumours, innuendo and misinformation out there,” he added.
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