Investigators are attempting to determine why an unarmed Stamford, Conn., woman ran her car into a security fence outside the White House on Thursday before leading authorities on a short chase that ended with her death in a hail of police gunfire near the U.S. Capitol.
Police officials said the black Infiniti sedan she was driving struck a temporary security fencing at the White House security perimeter at 15th Street and E, at approximately 2:12 p.m., then fled east on Pennsylvania Avenue, striking a uniformed Secret Service officer as she sped off, with police in pursuit.
Capitol Police caught up to her at Garfield Circle near the Capitol reflecting pool, but she sped off again. A 23-year veteran of the Capitol Police struck a barricade as he pursued her in a squad car and was injured.
But questions were certain to persist, including what motivated the woman to begin the rampage, why Secret Service agents were unable to stop her car at the beginning of the incident and whether officers were justified in shooting a woman who apparently was unarmed and had a child inside her car.
CBS News' Bob Orr reports that at around 2 p.m., a black Infiniti coupe struck a barrier at 15th and E Sts. NW, one block from the White House. Officials don't know if she deliberately rammed the barrier or simply sideswiped it. The driver, a woman, then sped off, driving erratically east on Pennsylvania Ave. NW, toward the Capitol, with Secret Service officers in pursuit. A federal official tells CBS News that the pursuit was high-speed through busy city streets, and that the woman was weaving in and out of traffic and running red lights.
"The car was trying to get away. But it was going over the median and over the curb," Matthew Coursen, who was on his way to a legislative office building when the Infiniti sped by him, told the Associated Press. "The car got boxed in and that's when I saw an officer of some kind draw his weapon and fire shots into the car."
Coursen watched the shooting from his cab window.
"I thought to myself, 'The car is getting blocked in. The car is going to surrender,'" he said. "Now the cop has his weapon out. The car kept trying to get away. Then he fired shots."
Shortly thereafter, at 2nd St. and Maryland Ave., NE, she jumped a curb and stopped her vehicle, leaving a child behind in the car and attempted to flee the scene, according to the federal official. Multiple officers then fired multiple gunshots; the woman was hit by gunfire and died, Orr reports.
really odd behavior
Faster horses said:It might have been MsSage as she has been missing.......and she always said she was bat shaite crazy.....or something like that.........
kolanuraven said:Faster horses said:It might have been MsSage as she has been missing.......and she always said she was bat shaite crazy.....or something like that.........
Well...aren't we Miss Manners here!!!
I never got along with Sage myself....but this is pretty shitty
I see you are still the same nosey busy body of yrs past.....
B.J. Campbell, 69, a tourist visiting from Portland, Ore., said he saw the black car drive past White House security. Officers began “banging on the car, yelling at her,” Campbell told TIME. One tried to use a bicycle rack to box in the vehicle, but the car spun around and rammed into the rack and hit the officer, who was not wearing a uniform. The officer, whom the Associated Press identified as a Secret Service agent, was knocked onto the hood of the car and rolled off onto the street, according to Campbell. However, another witness said the officer got up and did not appear to be injured.
Mike said:She was convinced Buckwheat was monitoring her.