‘Impaired’ driver causes latest security scare at Mar-a-Lago United States

Law enforcement agents opened fire on an SUV driver who smashed through two security checkpoints at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort yesterday in what authorities described as the actions of ‘‘an obviously impaired’’ driver but not an intentional attack.

The driver, Hannah Roemhild, 30, of Connecticut, who identifies herself on her Facebook page as an opera singer, was later arrested at a nearby motel.

No-one was injured, authorities said. Trump was not at the Palm Beach club at the time, although he was scheduled to arrive there later in the day.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Roemhild, who was ‘‘obviously impaired’’, was dancing on top of her vehicle outside a hotel about five kilometres from Mar-a-Lago when an off-duty Florida Highway Patrol officer approached her. She jumped into the SUV drove away.

Roemhild led officers on a high-speed pursuit before she crashed through one Mar-a-Lago checkpoint, then a second, where Secret Service agents and sheriff’s deputies were barely able to avoid being hit before they opened fire. Roemhild kept driving and was able to get away. Investigators later located her vehicle using a licence plate reader.

Mar-a-Lago has been the scene of several intrusions since Trump became president.

On January 5, just hours after Trump and his family had left the club following a two-week vacation, a Florida man who had been dishonourably discharged from the US Marines for sex offences was arrested after he got past two checkpoints. He had falsely identified himself as part of the president’s helicopter crew.

In March 2019, Chinese national Yujing Zhang gained access to Mar-a-Lago while carrying a laptop, phones and other electronic gear. This led to initial speculation that the 33-year-old businesswoman from Shanghai might be a spy.