Driver charged after truck crash near White House
- By James FitzGerald & Bernd Debusmann Jr
- BBC Information
Watch: Driver crashes U-Haul elimination truck close to White Home
The driving force of a truck that crashed into safety boundaries close to the White Home on Monday evening has been arrested.
He has been charged with varied offences together with reckless driving.
A Secret Service official stated there have been no accidents and preliminary investigations recommended the crash might need been intentional.
The driving force, a 19-year-old Missouri man, allegedly made threatening statements aimed toward President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.
US Park Police named the suspect as Sai Varshith Kandula, a resident of the St Louis suburb of Chesterfield.
At a listening to on Tuesday, a lawyer representing {the teenager} advised a DC Superior Courtroom decide there was no proof Mr Kandula’s actions had been intentional.
The decide disagreed and stated he posed “a big danger to the neighborhood”.
The case is anticipated to be transferred to federal court docket.
Mr Kandula has been charged with assault with a harmful weapon, reckless operation of a motorized vehicle, a menace to kill, kidnap or inflict hurt on a president, vice-president or member of the family, in addition to destruction of federal property and trespassing.
Citing a regulation enforcement supply, CBS, the BBC’s US companion, reported that Mr Kandula is a US citizen who was not on any police watch lists. He isn’t believed to have any important legal report.
The Rockwood Faculty District confirmed Mr Kandula graduated from Marquette Excessive Faculty in Chesterfield, Missouri in 2022.
There have been no weapons or explosives discovered within the automobile, officers stated. A Nazi flag in addition to a black backpack and a roll of duct tape had been discovered contained in the truck, in response to US media experiences.
Picture supply, Rockwood Faculty District
Sai Varshith Kandula went to high school in Missouri
Reuters information company printed a picture exhibiting the crimson flag on the ground close to to the automobile as police performed a search.
The incident – which occurred simply earlier than 22:00 native time (02:00 GMT) – triggered evacuations of native resorts together with the historic Hay-Adams.
Video of the crash taken by witnesses and posted to social media present the truck stopped on a sidewalk earlier than it accelerated and collided with a set of safety posts.
It’s unclear the place Mr Biden was on the time of the incident. Earlier within the day, he was on the White Home for debt ceiling talks with Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Safety has been elevated on the White Home and different federal buildings in Washington DC following a string of incidents lately.
In April 2021, a police officer was killed and one other wounded when a driver rammed a safety barrier close to the US Capitol. The driving force, a 25-year-old Indiana man, was shot and killed.
In one other incident in August final yr, a person drove right into a barricade close to the Capitol earlier than firing photographs into the air and taking his personal life.
