A person rented a truck and apparently intentionally drove into a fence in Lafayette Square near the White House on Monday night. No one was injured in the incident, and the Secret Service says it has arrested the man and is out of danger.

White housePhoto: Rob McLeod / robertharding / Profimedia

A witness told Reuters that investigators found a Nazi flag with a swastika that appeared to have come off the truck.

“Preliminary investigation indicates driver intentionally crashed into security barriers at Lafayette Square,” Anthony Guglielmi, director of communications for the Secret Service, tweeted.

Guglielmi’s earlier tweet indicated that no one from the White House or the Secret Service was injured. It is not known where exactly President Joe Biden was at the time.

A little earlier, he met at the White House with the President of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.

The nearby Hay Adams Hotel was evacuated at the request of the Secret Service, the Washington Post reported, citing a hotel official, while the Secret Service said some roads and walkways around the park were closed.

A spokesman for the Washington Fire Department said the call came in at 9:40 p.m. local time (04:40 a.m. Romanian time) about a suspicious package.

A major law enforcement and public safety response soon followed, and investigators later determined that the truck was largely empty and harmless.

The truck was driven by a robot

WUSA television showed video of the U-Haul truck stopped next to a row of steel poles, with uniformed police officers and a dog approaching the vehicle. A remote-controlled robot opened the truck’s back door, revealing a cart but no other obvious cargo.

Chris Zaboji, who witnessed the accident, posted a short video on social media showing the truck crashing into the safety barrier. According to him, after one accident, the driver hit the barriers a second time. Reuters reports that it has verified the video.

Zaboji, 25, an airline pilot who lives in Washington, said he had just finished jogging on the National Mall and was heading home when he heard a loud crash.

“I looked over and saw that the U-Haul had gone into the barricade. I was driving behind a guy with a golf cart and I was filming on my phone. After I saw that he drove again at full speed, I didn’t want to approach the truck and drove away,” said Zaboji. (news.ro)