Washington, DC: White House Press Area Locked Down After Car Hits Sign in Lafayette Park, Driver Detained

Updated 21:04 UTC: The Secret Service has confirmed both arrests in a statement. The agency said the driver was combative with law enforcement but was quickly placed under arrest, and that a second individual who jumped a barricade near the northwest corner of Lafayette Park was also quickly placed under arrest. A Washington police bomb disposal team swept the car as a precaution, roads around the park were closed, and the lockdown was lifted within about half an hour. NBC4 Washington reported, citing a source familiar with the case, that the driver was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and assault on a police officer, and that the second person was charged with unlawful entry. The Secret Service said both incidents are under investigation, and it is not clear whether the two are related. The arrests came four days after Secret Service officers detained a man in a parked car on Constitution Avenue near the White House. The Department of Homeland Security said that man had three guns in the car and had said he wanted to kill Trump.

WASHINGTON, DC: The White House press area was locked down on Monday morning, November 9, 2026, after a silver sedan drove onto a walkway at the north end of Lafayette Square and hit a sign, according to NBC News and the New York Post. Secret Service officers detained the driver, and a law enforcement official told NBC News the situation was contained.

What happened at Lafayette Square

The car jumped a curb and drove onto the sidewalk just north of Lafayette Park, facing the White House, the New York Post reported. It hit an informational sign and stopped well short of the White House gates, more than a block away. Video recorded by Martin Austermuhle of The Washington Sun showed a smoking silver sedan on a brick walkway just north of the White House, NBC reported.

Witness accounts published by both outlets said the driver got out of the car and fought with Secret Service officers and National Guard troops before officers took him into custody. The New York Post reported that officers ordered the driver to the ground, handcuffed him, and led him away along Pennsylvania Avenue. The driver shouted as officers walked him away, the Post reported.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, the Post reported. The area around the crash is used daily by pedestrians and by visitors taking photographs with the White House in the background.

Press area locked down, Trump inside

Secret Service agents ordered journalists to stay in the briefing room in the West Wing while officers responded, NBC reported. Reporters were moved indoors around 10 a.m. Eastern, according to pool reporting cited in other coverage of the incident. President Donald Trump was at the White House preparing for meetings at the time, the New York Post reported.

The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Post. Neither outlet reported the driver name, a motive, or any charges, and it was not immediately clear why the driver crashed or whether the crash was deliberate.

A second barrier report

At about the same time, a person jumped over a security barrier at a different location, at Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street, a source familiar with the investigation told NBC News reporter Paul Wagner. Investigators were trying to determine whether the two incidents were connected, NBC reported. That second report came from a single source cited by NBC, and no official statement confirming a link had been published when these reports appeared.

Lafayette Park sits directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House and is normally open to visitors. Lockdowns of the White House grounds do not by themselves signal a broader threat, the Post noted, and NBC reported that the detained driver case was contained. Readers should expect the driver identity, any charges, and an official Secret Service account to come in later updates, and this article will be updated in place if officials confirm new facts.