Two Pennsylvania men who were shot and injured during the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at his 2024 Butler rally, are suing the United States government for negligence, claiming the Secret Service’s failure to secure the area before and during the event led to serious injury.
In separate lawsuits filed in Pennsylvania federal court Monday, James Copenhaver and David Dutch allege the U.S. Secret Service “utterly failed to provide required, proper, appropriate, timely and/or necessary security,” at or ahead of the rally that led to an attempted assassination on the president, the death of one rally-goer and injuries of others.
Copenhaver, who was 75 at the time of the shooting, was shot twice – once in his abdomen and once in his left tricep. His injuries have required extensive surgeries, according to the lawsuit. Last year, Copenhaver told Fox News Digital that he had trouble walking up and down stairs and now requires help from his wife and son.
Dutch, a veteran who was 58 years old at the time of the shooting, was shot in the abdomen and needed surgeries to repair damage to his liver. He told Fox News Digital last year that his injuries have made it more difficult to help around the house.
Their lawsuits come after a House report, a Senate report and a Government Accountability Office report found that the July 13, 2024, shooting was preventable but that the Secret Service did not take all precautions to secure the area of the rally, failed to establish clear lines of communication and leadership before the event, did not possess the necessary resources to protect Trump, and more.
Copenhaver and his wife, as well as Dutch and his wife are seeking at least $150,000 in compensatory damages, excluding attorney and court fees.
The Independent has asked the Department of Justice and attorneys for the plaintiffs for comment.
While Copenhaver and Dutch both experienced serious injuries that required visits to the intensive care unit, they are not the only ones who were harmed as a result of the shooting. Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief, was fatally shot while protecting his family at the rally.
A bullet from the firearm grazed Trump’s ear, causing minor injury.
The tragedy at the Butler rally shooting exposed gaps in the Secret Service’s ability to protect Trump, a then-presidential candidate.
Despite knowing people had made threats to Trump’s life leading up to the rally, state, local and federal law enforcement did not create a plan for securing a warehouse building located near the site of the rally – ultimately, which 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks would climb onto, assemble an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle and fire eight shots.
A timeline of events the day of the shooting revealed that a lack of clear communication guidelines from the Secret Service and law enforcement partners had allowed Crooks up to 25 minutes to climb onto the roof of the building and assemble the firearm without being interrupted by law enforcement.
The failures were largely attributed to a lack of establishing a hierarchy among Secret Service and law enforcement personnel at the event. When local police shared photos of Crooks appearing suspicious, the photo bounced around separate group chats rather than a single thread of communication.
Technology issues also contributed to the failures with some law enforcement officers’ radios not working properly. Reports claimed the government also denied the Trump Secret Service team access to certain resources that could have helped prevent or detect threats.
“This was a failure of imagination,” Ronald Rowe Jr., the former acting director of the Secret Service told lawmakers during a congressional hearing after the shooting.
“A failure to imagine that we actually do live in a very dangerous world where people do actually want to do harm to our protectees,” Rowe added.
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