WASHINGTON — Police arrested a man “driving along the sidewalk” near the US Capitol around 10 a.m. on Thursday, one day after a driver mowed down New Year’s Eve revelers in a terror attack that left 15 dead in New Orleans.
Capitol police officers took the suspicious man into custody after he drove his vehicle into a “grassy area” near the foot of Capitol Hill — charging him with reckless driving.
Authorities temporarily closed roads before a bomb squad declared the area safe.
Police did not immediately release the driver’s name or age, or say if he is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
In an initial statement, Capitol Police said: “Before 10 a.m., our Special Operations Division officers spotted a car that had been driving along the sidewalk, near Peace Circle, and into the grassy area near Third Street, NW, and Constitution Avenue. Officers took the man into custody.”
Later, the department tweeted: “Our bomb squad cleared the car and declared that it is safe. The driver is being arrested for reckless driving. Please continue to avoid the area, while our investigators continue their work. Roads in the area will re-open shortly. Have a safe day.”
The grassy square on that intersection is just south of the Labor Department’s headquarters and southeast of the federal courthouse that’s contains the US district court and DC’s federal appeals court.
Another office building feet away houses rented workspaces and is the former home of the Penn Biden Center, where President Biden allegedly mishandled classified documents after his vice presidency.
The erratic behavior comes after the ISIS-inspired act of terror by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an Army vet and US citizen, who ran over more than a dozen people celebrating on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Hours later, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas in another apparent terror attack, killing only its driver.
The Washington, DC, Metro Police Department announced in the wake of the shocking incidents that it was heightening security measures in the nation’s capital.
