A vehicle crash and a separate barricade breach prompted a White House lockdown on 9 November. The press pool said it was lifted about an hour later; NBC Washington said normal operations resumed after about 30 minutes.
The US Secret Service said it arrested two people after a vehicle crashed and another person jumped a barricade near the White House on 9 November. The incidents prompted a lockdown and the closure of surrounding roads while President Donald Trump was inside the residence.
The White House press pool said the lockdown was lifted about an hour later, Al Jazeera said. NBC Washington put the lockdown at about 30 minutes before normal operations resumed. Secret Service agents had ordered journalists to stay in the West Wing briefing room.
Secret Service Police and National Guard personnel responded to the crash at about 10:00 local time (19:00 Yerevan time) near 16th and H Streets Northwest, on the northern edge of Lafayette Park, a Secret Service spokesperson said. The park sits directly in front of the White House.
Video showed a smoking silver sedan surrounded by officers and the driver getting out and swinging at them. The Secret Service said the driver was combative and quickly arrested. Around the same time, a second person jumped a barricade near the park’s northwest corner and was also quickly arrested, the agency said.
The Metropolitan Police Department’s explosives unit searched the vehicle as a precaution after the driver’s arrest and determined it was safe, NBC Washington said.
Authorities had not stated what charges the two people might face, Al Jazeera said. NBC Washington, citing a person familiar with the matter, said the driver was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon related to the vehicle and assault on a police officer. The person who jumped the barricade was charged with unlawful entry, the source told NBC Washington.
Whether the incidents were connected and why the driver crashed remain unclear. Both incidents are under investigation.
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