Police have arrested a man they believe intentionally crashed a U-Haul truck into a security barrier at a park across from the White House.
The box truck’s driver smashed into the barrier near the north side of Lafayette Square on Monday around 10 p.m., Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. No one was injured.
Officers from the Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department searched the truck after the crash. Video posted by WUSA-TV shows a police officer at the scene picking up and inventorying several pieces of evidence from the truck, including a Nazi flag.
Based on a preliminary investigation, investigators believe the driver “may have intentionally struck the security barriers at Lafayette Square,” Guglielmi said. Authorities offered no additional details about the possible motive and had not released the driver’s identity.
The U.S. Park Police said the man was arrested on multiple charges, including threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on a president, vice president or member of their family; assault with a dangerous weapon; reckless driving; destruction of federal property; and trespassing.
Lafayette Square, which offers perhaps the best view of the White House available to the public, has long been one of the nation’s most prominent venues for demonstrations. The park was closed for nearly a year after federal authorities fenced off the area at the height of nationwide protests over policing following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, but it reopened in May 2021.
U-Haul is a moving truck, trailer and self-storage rental company based in Phoenix.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
3 Responses
This right-wing nutcase couldn’t even find the White House….he crashed his van into the security barriers on the Black Lives Matter plaza along the NorthSide of Lafayette Park, a Block Away from the security barriers around the White House. I’m sure we will hear more than just a Nazi Flag as the secret service investigates this guy’s background.
A lot of these suspected neo-nazis have turned out to be black Hispanic or trans freaks – prime Biden demographics.
The driver was a 19 yo named Sai Varshith Kandula of Chesterfield, Missouri. Not your typical Billy Bob Blowhard with a MAGA hat but more likely some disaffected teenager who was radicalized online. Anyway, good reminder of why they need to restrict truck access in the immediate vicinity of the WH and Capital since a few pounds of fertilizer in the back of a U-Haul can make quite a statement.