Man detained after scaling White House fence, officer injured

On Thursday morning, U.S. Secret Service agents apprehended a man who tried to breach the White House perimeter on foot.

Secret Service communications chief Anthony Guglielmi said the incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. EDT, when the man jumped over a construction bollard by the Treasury Building on the northeast side of the presidential complex in Washington, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

“Officers encountered the individual near a pedestrian gate, where he engaged in a physical altercation before being taken into custody,” Guglielmi said in a statement provided to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network.

He noted that an officer “sustained a laceration” during the incident, and the agent, along with the suspect, received a medical evaluation for minor injuries. 

Officials have yet to release identifying information. 

The Thursday altercation follows an incident last month in which a man drove a van through a barricade near the White House in the early morning of March 11. 

Christopher Cavanaugh, a 35-year-old from Ohio, was charged with unlawful entry and destruction of property after the crash, WUSA9 reported.

Cavanaugh was wearing a shirt in support of President Trump at the time of the crash, and he told Secret Service agents during an interrogation that he was at the White House to “deliver a present,” according to the local outlet. 

Additionally, last October a man was taken into custody after he drove into a White House security gate. The man rammed his vehicle into the gate on the northeast perimeter of the complex, and he was “immediately” apprehended by Secret Service officers.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli