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The Secret Service ushered president Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden to safety on Sunday night after a car ploughed into a parked SUV that was guarding the presidential motorcade.
Mr Biden was walking out of his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware to his waiting armoured SUV when a sedan hit a US Secret Service vehicle that was closing off intersections for the president’s departure.
The silver sedan, which carried a Delaware licence plate, then tried to continue into a closed-off intersection, before Secret Service personnel surrounded the vehicle with weapons drawn and instructed the driver to put his hands up.
Mr Biden was ushered into his waiting vehicle, where his wife was already seated, before being driven swiftly back to their home. His schedule was otherwise unaffected by the incident.
Special Agent Steve Kopek, a Secret Service spokesperson, said the vehicle that struck was securing the route of Mr Biden’s motorcade.
“There was no protective interest associated with this event and the President’s motorcade departed without incident,” Mr Kopek was quoted as saying by NBC News.
The Bidens had emerged from the Biden-Harris 2024 headquarters in rainy downtown Wilmington at 8.07pm after having a meal with members of his re-election team at the time of the incident, according to a White House press pool report.
Moments after Mr Biden responded to a question from a reporter a silver sedan hit what seemed to be a motorcade SUV at the intersection across from the entrance of the campaign headquarters, the pool report stated.
Members of the United States Secret Service react to a vehicle crashing into a Secret Service SUV that was blocking the street, in Wilmington
(Reuters)
A reporter asked the president why he was not doing well in the polls. “They’re the wrong polls,” Mr Biden responded.
Then “there was a loud bang,” said the White House pool report, “and POTUS was standing outside the vehicle with a surprised expression on his face.
“A man walking by loudly said ‘oh my gosh’ when this happened,” the report added.
Television footage showed Secret Service agents escorting Mr Biden to his car after the impact.
The silver sedan, which sustained damage to its bumper, was quickly surrounded by security officers after it stopped.
Wilmington Police Department spokesperson David Karas told Axios that local officers were “investigating the motor vehicle collision”.
“Investigators are also working to determine if impairment was a factor,” he added.
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