A 19-year-old man was arrested Monday night near the White House after intentionally crashing a truck into the protection bollards that are outside Lafayette Park, adjacent to the presidential building estate. The detainee has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless driving of a motor vehicle, threatening to kill, kidnapping or harming a president, vice president or member of their family, destruction of federal property and trespassing, as reported by the National Park Service.
The events occurred at 9:40 p.m. local time when Park Police and Secret Service agents responded to the 1600 block of H Street in Northwest Washington NW after the crash of the truck. According to the preliminary investigation, the vehicle, a rental truck, intentionally crashed into the bollards located outside of Lafayette Park. The driver of the vehicle has been identified as Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri.
The US Secret Service said it had detained the driver of a rented box truck that crashed into security barriers near the White House https://t.co/Jfc4Pz2y9s pic.twitter.com/bejugLl15M
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 23, 2023
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, has indicated through a statement that the incident caused no injuries to Secret Service or White House personnel. “The cause and manner of the crash remain under investigation. There are street closures and crosswalks are closed while we investigate,” he added.
The truck is from the U-Haul company, a rental company for moving trucks, trailers and other vehicles based in in Phoenix, Arizona. Agents from the Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department searched the truck after the accident. A video posted by WUSA-TV shows a police officer at the scene collecting and inventorying various pieces of evidence from the truck, including a Nazi flag. The authorities have not offered additional details about the possible motive.
This Tuesday morning there was still a greater police presence than usual around the White House and the area of the crash was still closed to traffic.
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