By Steven Vago and David Propper
The local cop who interrupted Thomas Crooks’ assassination attempt on Donald Trump — but failed to stop the deranged gunman from squeezing the trigger — saved the ex-president’s life, a Pennsylvania sheriff insisted Tuesday.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe doubled down on his defense of the Butler Township police officer who confronted Crooks at the Saturday rally and assailed online critics as “a–holes” in an interview with The Post.
Slupe argued the officer – whose department was enlisted by the Secret Service to help during the rally — merely coming face-to-face with the shooter delayed what could have been a worse outcome for Trump.
police officer who confronted Crooks at the Saturday rally.AP
“Can you imagine 10 seconds before that? That the president was looking straight ahead and where that bullet could have potentially landed,” the sheriff said.
Crooks was perched atop the roof of a manufacturing plant roughly 130 yards from the stage on which Trump was speaking when the officer encountered the would-be assassin.
The local cop, hoisted up by a fellow officer, was hanging off the edge of the roof when he was spotted by Crooks, who pointed his AR-style semi-automatic assault rifle at him.
“Right now, (the shooter is) training on the president. These guys breach the roof,” the sheriff said of the two cops. “So he turns around and potentially eliminates that threat.
“The officer is like ‘I’m dead or I drop. I drop.’ He turns back around,” he said of the shooter.
The cop ducked his head, lost his grip and fell eight feet to the ground, Butler Township Manager Tom Knights told NBC News Tuesday.
“When someone points a gun at you and you can’t get to your weapon, you tell them a–holes online that they are Superman,” Slupe said. “Like ‘I’ll just pull a gun out and they can shoot at me. I don’t give a s–t.’ Yeah. Mhm. Right, right.”
Shortly after, Crooks opened fire on Trump, wounding the GOP presidential nominee, killing a rally-goer and injuring two others.
“Now timing is everything … He turns around and at this point in the speech, obviously as we all know, the president is looking way back to his right and he gets hit on the ear,” the top cop said.
Trump turned his head to look at a chart on immigration during his speech just as bullets started flying. He credited the sudden movement with saving his life.
“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,” Slupe argued.
Slupe leads the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, while the cops who confronted Crooks work for the Butler Township police force.
In the shooting’s aftermath, the Secret Service pointed the finger at local police for failing to secure the rooftop that Crooks fired from and insisted it was outside the perimeter the feds were handling.
Local authorities were tasked with securing the area immediately outside the rally, a Secret Service spokesperson said.
But local law enforcement have beat back criticism.
“For them to blame local law enforcement is them passing the blame when they hold the blame, in my opinion,” Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger told the Washington Post of the feds.
A police counter-sniper team was situated inside the building of the roof where the shooter fired from.
A Secret Service official told the Washington Post the team was from neighboring Beaver County while sources told WTAE the building had members of the Beaver and Butler counties’ emergency services units and SWAT teams inside.
Crooks was spotted at least twice by cops – 26 minutes before he started firing, according to WPXI sources.
Slupe admits Crooks should have never been able to fire off gunshots.
“Was there a failure? Yes. You’d have to be stupid not to admit there was a failure,” he said, but said his department did the job they were tasked with.
He said embattled Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle called “me to thank our office and of course other local law enforcement officers for their duties and the high respect they have for what we did.”
