Just 2 Seconds (81 page)

1342.
Date: May 31, 2005
Target: Actress Lindsay Lohan
Location: West Hollywood, California
Details: Lohan was reportedly making a U-turn to get to a police vehicle when a photographer intentionally crashed into her car. Lohan suffered cuts and bruises in the accident. Police said the photographer, Galo Ramirez, was in a van following Lohan when the actress spotted a police vehicle going in the opposite direction. Lohan was trying to reach the police vehicle to report that she was being pursued. Police said Ramirez then intentionally rammed the left rear of her car.

1343.
Date: June 1, 2005
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: A man in a T-shirt and baggy pants at the White House Northwest gate presented what was presumably a driver's license. When he was refused entrance and told to stand back, he scrambled over the fence. Security tackled the man on the White House lawn. The man was not armed.

1344.
Date: June 15, 2005
Target: Prince Harry
Location: Camberley, Surrey
Details: Authorities at Sandhurst Military Academy reviewed its security procedures after a reporter walked around the grounds with a fake bomb and filmed Prince Harry marching with fellow cadets. The reporter from
The Sun
spent seven hours wandering the grounds and corridors of Sandhurst Military Academy, including the accommodation block where the prince lived. He had gained access by presenting a credit card.

1345.
Date: June 17, 2005
Target: Celebrity Leonardo DiCaprio
Location: Hollywood Hills, California
Details: DiCaprio was attending a party at a private residence when a woman reportedly hit him in the head with a beer bottle before being restrained by witnesses. He was cut near his ear and required about a dozen stitches. The woman was reportedly trespassing and had been repeatedly asked to leave before the attack. DiCaprio later filed an assault complaint.

1346.
Date: July 7, 2005
Target: Prime Minister John Howard
Location: Sydney, Australia
Details: Police arrested a man armed with a knife after he attempted to toss a burning package over the fence of Howard's residence. Howard was not in the residence. The attacker suffered burns, but no one else was injured in the incident. The man then allegedly threatened officers from the Australian Protective Services with a knife.

1347.
Date: August 14, 2005
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Crawford, Texas
Details: One of Bush's neighbors reportedly fired a shotgun blast on his property that startled Secret Service agents and nearby anti-war protesters. He told reporters he was simply preparing for the start of dove-hunting season. Police rushed to the home after the shot was fired, but said no laws were broken.

1348.
Date: October 21, 2005
Target: U.S. Capitol
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: A driver and his hitchhiking passenger parked near the Capitol Building. He approached a Capitol Police officer and told him that there was a bomb in his car. Police took both men into custody. The driver was held for a mental evaluation and the hitchhiker was released. Bomb technicians examined the car and exploded a package that concerned them, but no bomb was found.

1349.
Date: November 1, 2005
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: A knife-wielding man slashed at four people in a park near the White House. Two were taken to the hospital. A suspect was reportedly arrested by the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service and handed over to U.S. Park Police.

1350.
Date: December 4, 2005
Target: Chelsea Clinton (daughter of President Clinton)
Location: Washington, D.C.
Details: A man named Shawn Cox was arrested after he jumped the fence onto the White House grounds in what he later reportedly described as an attempt to find Chelsea Clinton. Cox reportedly thought Clinton still lived at the White House and thought he was destined to marry her. Cox had a record with the Secret Service. He did not have a weapon. Bush was home at when Cox climbed the fence on the northeast side of the property. Uniformed Secret Service officers stood by with guns drawn while an agent escorted Cox to a guard station.

1351.
Date: February 3, 2006
Target: President George W. Bush and Others
Location: Asbury Park, New Jersey
Details: More than 200 letters containing a sheet of paper with the word "anthrax" written in multi-colored block letters were sent to President Bush, government agencies, media personalities, actors and actresses, and businesses. None of the envelopes contained anthrax. The US Postal Service intercepted twenty of the letters in May and June. FBI agents and investigators from the New Jersey State Police and US Secret Service arrested the perpetrator without incident at his apartment.

1352.
Date: February 6, 2006
Target: Singer Britney Spears
Location: Malibu, California
Details: Spears's bodyguard reportedly drove her and her infant son to a Starbucks for a cup of coffee. The bodyguard went inside while Spears waited in the car. She reportedly became unnerved when several photographers swarmed around her SUV to get pictures. She reportedly moved her infant from his car seat to her lap. Spears then moved behind the steering wheel and drove away with the infant on her lap after her bodyguard returned. Pictures of her driving with the infant on her lap were published, creating an uproar about her being a bad mother.

1353.
Date: March 22, 2006
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Washington, DC
Details: A man tossed a suspicious package onto the North Lawn of the White House, setting off a security alert. He was taken into custody. After a remote-controlled device probed the package, the Secret Service determined it was not hazardous.

1354.
Date: April 2, 2006
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Washington, DC
Details: A man was arrested after authorities saw him throw a package over the fence at the White House. When he was searched, officers reportedly found brass knuckles in his possession. The Secret Service did not reveal what was in the package, but officials said it was nothing dangerous. The man was charged with carrying a prohibited weapon.

1355.
Date: April 9, 2006
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Washington, DC
Details: An intruder jumped over the White House fence and ran through the grounds before being subdued by police and an anti-terrorist team. A police dog was used to keep the intruder at bay before his arrest. The man ranted at security guards as they arrested him at gunpoint. The Secret Service said the man was known to them as a "fence-jumper and nuisance." Bush was in the White House at the time. There have reportedly been 24 fence jumpers between 1989 and 1994.

1356.
Date: May 18, 2006
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Queens, New York
Details: Acting on an anonymous telephone tip, federal agents arrested a teenage young man for manufacturing Secret Service credentials. According to a federal criminal complaint, the man admitted to manufacturing and selling the Secret Service IDs and showed agents the computer and printer he used to produce the fakes. The counterfeit credentials bore the name of a Secret Service agent involved in his arrest the previous year. In that case, the teenager allegedly made repeated telephone and written threats against Bush and warned that he would bomb federal buildings.

1357.
Date: June 7, 2006
Target: Parliament
Location: London, England
Details: A man entered the Parliament building and spread a powdery substance on the floor of the lobby. He was taken into custody, the building was closed, and police tested the substance for anthrax. Thirty minutes later the Parliament reopened, police having concluded the powder was harmless.

1358.
Date: August 13, 2006
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Washington, DC
Details: A woman was arrested for carrying a machete outside the White House. She was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon. The Secret Service described the weapon as a 13-inch machete. Bush had reportedly returned to the White House just minutes earlier.

1359.
Date: September 7, 2006
Target: Prince Charles
Location: London, England
Details: Three men, including a tabloid newspaper reporter, were arrested over a plot to bug telephone conversations involving the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. The investigation by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch was launched after complaints from members of staff at Clarence House, the couple's London home, which Princes William and Harry frequently visit. The allegations related to the interception of mobile phones, rather than landlines. Details of the Prince of Wales's travel arrangements were allegedly obtained. The investigation extended beyond Clarence House and police reportedly believed that public figures beyond the Royal household had their telephones intercepted.

1360.
Date: September 18, 2006
Target: U.S. Capitol
Location: Washington, DC
Details: A man driving an SUV stolen earlier in the day, slammed into a police vehicle blocking an entrance to a major construction site on the Capitol's east side, across from the Supreme Court. The man then ran up the Capitol steps, entered the building through a third-floor construction door. He reportedly ran through the rotunda and down some stairs to the basement on the opposite side of the building before being subdued by police. He was armed with a loaded handgun and had crack cocaine in his possession.

1361.
Date: September 29, 2006
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Elk Grove, California
Details: An engineer at a nuclear power plant was arrested after he mailed two threatening letters containing a powdery substance to a country club where Bush was scheduled to visit on October 3. The letters reportedly contained threats to Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and US Representaive John Doolittle. A federal affidavit said that Braun has sent a total of 51 threatening letters. The letters reportedly threatened the lives of the president, Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Each of the letters contained a written threat, usually death by some kind of WMD agent (anthrax, toxic chemical poison, radioactive dust or improvised explosives), and some unknown, white, powdery substance, or non-lethal items associated with an improvised explosive device. The substance usually turned out to be baking soda. FBI agents had the man under surveillance and watched as he dropped two letters into a mailbox.

1362.
Date: October 1, 2006
Target: Prime Minister Tony Blair
Location: London, England
Details: A man was arrested after he climbed a six-foot high set of iron railings around Blair's residence. He was reportedly armed with a knife. Security at Blair's residence was under review because the incident took place while ultra-sensitive footpad alarms were reportedly deactivated for gardening work. Blair was believed home at the time.

1363.
Date: October 16, 2006
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Washington, DC
Details: The Secret Service arrested a man after he climbed over the fence at the White House. He was charged with trespassing and possession of a controlled substance, which was cannabis. Bush was not at the White House when the incident occurred.

1364.
Date: October 31, 2006
Target: Senator George Allen
Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Details: A man approached Allen at an event loudly asking, "Why did you spit at your first wife, George?" Three Allen supporters grabbed the man and slung him to the carpet outside a hotel meeting room.

1365.
Date: October 11, 2006
Target: Celebrities and Politicians
Location: Woodland Hills, California
Details: The Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) arrested a man for mailing threatening letters containing white powder to politicians, media figures and journalists. Multiple individuals in various cities, including New York, New Jersey and San Francisco, had received letters. Among those who received letters at either their residence or workplace were U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, entertainer Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann, and David Letterman. Some of the letters included references to Alan Berg, a Jewish talk radio host murdered by white supremacists in 1984. Some letters contained photographs of deceased people. The powder was not dangerous.

1366.
Date: February 23, 2007
Target: Actor Hugh Grant
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Details: Grant was standing at a rope-line meeting fans and reporters at a movie premier. Two women were able to get past the barricade on the ruse of getting their picture taken with him. One woman suddenly handcuffed herself to Grant. When the actor asked her for a key to unlock the cuffs, she explained she didn't have one. Grant had to stand in view of the press and public for ten minutes while police arrested the woman, and were eventually able to cut the chain on the handcuffs.

1367.
Date: June 6, 2007
Target: Pope Benedict XVI
Location: Vatican City, Italy
Details: The Pope was riding in an open jeep past a large crowd. A man suddenly jumped over the concrete crowd barricade and attempted to jump into the Pope's vehicle. Security officers wrestled him to the ground as he reached the vehicle, and he was arrested.

Section 3C: Self-inflicted Wounds

An old football adage states, "the first rule of winning: Don't beat yourself." Here we look at a sampling of situations in which the protected person or members of an entourage figuratively (and in some cases, literally) shot themselves in the foot. Some cases in this section are tragic accidents; others could easily have been prevented through greater caution or better judgment.

1368.
Date: October 11, 1974
Target: Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Details: As Kissinger's Air Force 707 began to taxi for takeoff, Secret Service agent Walter Bothe was wounded when his Uzi submachine gun, locked in its carrying case in the rear, apparently jarred and discharged a single shot. Bothe had reportedly taped the grip safety to enable faster service.