A driver followed a motorcade carrying the Obama daughters through a security checkpoint near the White House on Tuesday afternoon, leading the complex to be locked down as the car was stopped and searched in a restricted section of Pennsylvania Avenue.
The car was stopped by the uniformed Secret Service, which arrested the driver, who was identified as Mathew E. Goldstein, 55. He was charged with unlawful entry, said a spokesman for the Secret Service, George Ogilvie. Mr. Goldstein held a pass giving him access to the Treasury Department, which is next to the White House.
The episode occurred about 4:40 p.m., as the vehicle, a gray Honda sedan, trailed the motorcade carrying Malia and Sasha Obama as it passed through a checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
Mr. Goldstein was being held for questioning on Tuesday evening, the Secret Service said. An administration official said the police did not find anything suspicious in the vehicle.
While the car was being searched, the White House gates were locked, and reporters who work there were ordered to stay in the briefing room. Passers-by stopped to snap pictures of the car, which sat on Pennsylvania Avenue, just short of the northwest gate to the White House. The lockdown was lifted more than an hour later, NY Times informs.
