The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Middletown woman crashes into Mar-a-Lago security
A Connecticut resident described as “obviously impaired” crashed her sport utility vehicle through two security checkpoints near Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Friday during a high-speed chase with police, according to authorities.
Law enforcement said the actions did not appear to be an intentional attack on President Donald Trump’s resort. The president was not at the resort at the time, but was scheduled to arrive later in the day Friday.
Authorities identified the driver, who was arrested, as 30-year-old Hannah Roemhild.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said
Roemhild was not “even remotely close” to getting to the inner perimeter of the Palm Beach resort. Bradshaw said Roemhild was “obviously impaired.”
Roemhild first came on law enforcement radar prior to the Mar-a-Lago incident after an off-duty Florida Highway Patrol officer working private security at a hotel went over to Roemhild’s SUV when he noticed the driver was acting erratically.
Roemhild allegedly refused to acknowledge the officer and put her vehicle in reverse and tried to drive away. Bradshaw said the trooper smashed the window and tried to grab the steering wheel, but Roemhild was able to drive away.
Major Robert Chandler of the Florida Highway Patrol said Roemhild led officer on a high-speed pursuit.
The pursuit ended when Roemhild crashed through two checkpoints near Mar-a-Lago and was speeding toward a third when sheriff ’s deputies and Secret Service agents fired numerous bullets at the SUV.
Roemhild kept driving, police said, and picked up a possible relative before authorities found her car using a license plate reader.
When police tracked her down, Bradshaw said, Roemhild ran from her car outside a nearby motel and was tackled by a trooper.
Bradshaw said Roemhild will face charges of assault on a federal officer, deadly assault on two sheriff ’s deputies and traffic charges.
This isn’t the first time a Connecticut resident has been tied up in an incident involving a president or presidential property.
In November 2015, Stamford resident Joseph Caputo jumped over the White House fence and ran toward the building before Secret Service ordered him to get down on the ground and he complied. The 22-year-old apparently did not intend to survive the task, leaving behind a suicide note with friends and will with his mother.
Back in October 2013, 34-year-old Miriam Carey, of Woddside Green in Stamford, was shot and killed after she tried to ram her car into a White House security barrier and led polie on a highspeed chase past the Capitol with her 18-month-old daughter in the vehicle.