Man arrested after crashing truck into barrier near White House
Driver faces multiple charges, including threatening to kill, kidnap, or harm a president, and assault with a deadly weapon.
Police have arrested a Missouri man they believe purposely drove a U-Haul truck into a security fence in a park across from the White House.
The truck driver crashed into the barrier near the north side of Lafayette Square at about 10 p.m. Monday (2 a.m. GMT on Tuesday), Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. He was identified as 19-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula of Chesterfield, a St. Louis suburb.
No one was injured in the crash.
A witness, Chris Zaboji, said the driver crashed into the barrier at least twice. Zaboji, a 25-year-old pilot who lives in Washington, was finishing a run near Lafayette Square when he heard the loud crash of the U-Haul truck hitting the barrier. He said he took out his phone and captured the moment the truck hit the barrier again before hearing sirens approaching.
“When the van backed up and rammed it again, I decided I wanted to get out of there,” he said.
Secret Service and Metropolitan Police Department agents 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 hit the security barriers in Lafayette Square,” Guglielmi said. Authorities offered no additional details about the possible motive.
U.S. Park Police said Kandula has been arrested on multiple charges, including threatening to kill, kidnap or harm a president, vice president or a member of their family; attack with a dangerous weapon; reckless driving; destruction of federal property; and burglary.
No attorney for Kandula was listed in court records, multiple phone numbers listed under his last name in public records were out of order, and attempts by The Associated Press to reach relatives who could speak on his behalf on Tuesday were not immediately successful.
Arguably the best view of the White House for the public, Lafayette Square has long been one of the country’s most prominent locations for demonstrations. The park was closed for nearly a year after federal authorities cordoned off the area at the height of nationwide protests over police tactics 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.