A driver was detained after a truck crashed into security barriers near the White House Monday night, authorities said.
The white U-Haul truck crashed into the barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square, at 16th Street, just before 10 p.m. ET.
The Secret Service said the incident, which took place a few hundred yards from the White House, may have been intentional.
«No Secret Service or White House personnel were injured and the cause and manner of the crash remain under investigation,» Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s chief of communications, said in a statement Monday night.
Guglielmi said in a subsequent statement posted on Twitter that Washington DC police deemed the truck safe and that «preliminary investigation reveals the driver may have intentionally struck security barriers.»
US Park Police will press charges with investigative support from the Secret Service, Guglielmi said.
The Reuters news agency published an image showing a Nazi-style red flag emblazoned with a swastika placed on the ground next to the van. Reuters, citing its own photographer at the scene, reported that this and other evidence apparently taken from the truck had been placed on the sidewalk and later seized by officers.
Authorities have not commented on the flag. NBC News has reached out to the Secret Service for comment.
Video footage later showed a robot opening the back of the truck, which appeared to be empty.
A spokesperson for the nearby Hay Adams Hotel told NBC News that guests were told to evacuate the building but were allowed to return at 1 a.m. ET Tuesday morning.
The exact whereabouts of President Joe Biden at the time of the incident was unclear. He had met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Monday night at the White House to discuss the debt limit.