Questions are swirling in the wake of an accident involving Vice President Kamala Harris’s motorcade this week after the Secret Service delayed disclosing the incident amid mixed signals about the cause.
The single-car accident occurred in a tunnel in the D.C. neighborhood of Foggy Bottom as Harris made her way to the White House Monday at 10:20 a.m. The car she was traveling in hit a curb, disabling a wheel. Harris was unhurt, but had to be transferred to another car.
“During a protective movement Monday, a vehicle in a motorcade had a minor overcorrection and struck a curb,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told The Washington Post Wednesday night. “The protectee was transferred to a secondary vehicle, and the motorcade continued to its destination. There were no injuries to anyone.”
According to this tiktok user, VP Kamala Harris' motorcade crashed yesterday morning. I've seen no news reports of this strange incident. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Vd49UvryhT
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) October 4, 2022
The incident was initially described as a “mechanical failure” to senior Secret Service officials, which would seem to be contradicted by Guglielmi’s statement. And there was no explanation for the two-day delay in disclosing the accident.
Guglielmi said the agents involved in the fender bender reported it as “mechanical failure” in their initial written communication of the incident.
“Initial radio traffic indicated this was a mechanical failure, and that was communicated to agency leadership by personnel supporting the motorcade movement,” Guglielmi told the Post. “After the protective movement was completed, leadership was verbally updated with additional pertinent facts that the vehicle struck a curb.”
Secret Service sources and Harris herself questioned how highly trained agents could have an accident on such a routine trip, according to the Post. But perhaps even more disturbing was the fact that key details were omitted in an electronic message notifying senior leadership of the incident.
Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle only learned late Monday afternoon what had really happened, a source told the Post.
A spokeswoman for Harris said the vice president is grateful for the Secret Service’s efforts to protect her.
The GW Hatchet reported that the accident occurred in the 2300 Block of Virginia Avenue, where more than 10 drivers have reportedly crashed this year into a berm that separates a car lane from a new bike lane. Residents have painted the median and strategically placed cones, but there are no signs warning drivers of the curb, the site reported.
A TikTok video that purportedly showed the crash aftermath and was posted on Twitter showed several black SUVs stopped at the entrance of a tunnel while sirens blare in the background.