Advertisement

Woman crashes car into White House barricade

A woman has driven her car into the White House barricade - AFP
A woman has driven her car into the White House barricade - AFP

A woman has been arrested after crashing her car into the barricades protecting the White House.

The woman, said to be known to the Secret Service, drove into the protective barrier at around 3.10pm local time.

She was immediately detained, and no shots were fired. No one was injured.

Traffic around the area was diverted, as the Secret Service dealt with the incident - which came shortly after President Donald Trump and his Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, held a press conference inside the White House.

The area was filled with journalists filing out of the press conference, and the Australian press pack was briefly keep inside the White House perimeter while the situation unfolded.

White House
A Secret Service officer rushes to the scene on Friday afternoon

It is not uncommon for people to try to enter the White House, either by jumping over the fence or by attempting to pass the heavily-protected barricades.

The most recent successful scaling of the fence was in October, when a Kentucky man dressed in a Pikachu suit was detained.

The most recent arrest was at the end of January, for the second time in six months, a man was arrested after he was found close to the White House at 2:30am with guns and ammunition.

Some incidents have sparked more alarm than others.

In 2014 Omar Gonzalez managed to scale the fence and make it inside the White House with a knife. He was arrested and sentenced to 17 months in prison.

And in 2011 a man fired shots at the White House, later telling officers he intended to kill Barack Obama.