(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Pennsylvania residents James Copenhaver and David Dutch, who were both severely wounded at the July 13 Butler rally, have sent letters to law enforcement agencies, signaling their intent to sue them over the security failures that led to their injuries.
“Butler Township received the letter on Dec. 26 from the New York law firm Speiser and Krause. The letter was a required notice of the men’s intention to file a suit,” the Butler Eagle reported Wednesday.
The letter was reportedly sent to Butler County, Butler Township, Washington County and a slew of other agencies that had a presence at the July 13 rally—where gunman Thomas Crooks allegedly nearly assassinated Donald Trump, killed firefighter Corey Comperatore, and sent Dutch and Copenhaver to the hospital.
“The notice lists numerous counties and individual municipalities in the region—apparently including the various SWAT teams and local police departments that composed those groups that were part of the security detail—as failing to protect the former president and bystanders,” local news outlet Observer-Reporter added.
Dutch and Copenhaver were standing at the backrow of the southern bleachers when shooting began. They later recounted what happened in an interview with NBC News.
“When I saw part of my sleeve go away and I heard ‘Psh’,” 74-year-old James Copenhaver told the news outlet in October. “I turned around to my friend and said, ‘I think I was shot.’”
He was right. In fact, he had been shot twice: once through the triceps and once in the abdomen.
David Dutch, who was standing about five feet to Copenhaver’s left at Butler, was shot once in the liver. He said it was “like getting hit with a sledgehammer right to the chest. I was there with chunks of bleacher and shrapnel flying all around until he finished firing.”
Copenhaver and Dutch were also taken to Allegheny General Hospital. David Dutch, 57, was released from on July 24. Copehaver was discharged two days later.
One of the would-be Trump assassin’s bullets remains lodged inside Copenhaver’s abdomen.
“It feels like someone is taking a cigarette and burning it right in the middle of my leg,” he said.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
