Secret Service agents nearly drove over 'suspicious package' in investigation near WH, sources say
The two Secret Service agents who were drinking on the night they drove into a crime scene investigation near the White House almost ran over a suspicious package, sources told Fox News on Thursday.
The details of the March 4 incident come as officials seek to downplay whats been the latest embarrassing episode for the troubled agency.
Police were examining the package around 10 p.m. when the two senior agents one of whom is a top member of President Obamas protective detail arrived at a guard shack checkpoint that had been vacated due to its proximity to the package, which turned out to be a book covered in a shirt.
But when the agents identified as Mark Connolly, the second-in-command on Obamas detail, and George Ogilvie, a senior supervisor in the Washington field office realized the guard shack was unoccupied, the government car backed up a few feet and nudged an orange, four-foot-tall traffic barrel that had been placed in the roadway, sources said.
The sources said the car did not appear to be out of control or traveling at a high rate of speed, and when the barrel was struck by the car, it did not tip over or cause damage to the vehicle. They nearly ran over the package that was being examined, although they did not run over it.
The incident, which happened during a steady downpour, was over in less than 30 seconds.
The Washington Post has reported that the officers on duty who witnessed the incident wanted to arrest the agents and conduct sobriety tests, but they were ordered by a supervisor on duty that night to let the agents go home. One source told Fox News they could smell alcohol on the agents, and said it was well-known that Secret Service agents had been attending the retirement party of spokesman Ed Donovan earlier that night.
Another source told Fox News that Secret Service Director Joseph P. Clancy wasnt notified immediately because the incident wasnt initially seen as a problem, but that he and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson were notified the next day.
A spokesman with the Department of Homeland Security inspector general's office told Fox News on Thursday that they are now investigating the incident, after it was referred by the Secret Service.
"We cannot discuss details of our ongoing investigation," the spokesman said.
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Secret Service agents nearly drove over 'suspicious package' in investigation near WH, sources say