A Secret Service agent who could have released a dog to stop a crazed man from getting into the White House in September didn’t react because he was chatting on his personal cellphone, a new government report reveals.
The officer was chatting while parked in the White House driveway when Omar Gonzalez dashed over a fence, through an unlocked door and into the East Room on Sept. 19, according to a review released Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The agent was not even using his radio earpiece, and a second radio was stashed in his locker.
The investigation also showed that the Secret Service’s response was complicated by bushes and an officer who was too small to tackle the intruder.
Two officers wrongly assumed Gonzalez would not be able to get through the thick bushes on the property.
Another, posted on the portico outside the White House doors, mistakenly assumed they were locked.
Gonzalez, 42, was able to run into the building before a female officer tried twice to take him down, but was unable to do so because she was smaller than he was.
She reached for a metal baton, but mistakenly grabbed a flashlight instead.
Gonzalez was eventually tackled by another officer, who was helped by two plainclothes agents just finishing a shift.
The embarrassing episode ultimately led to the resignation of the then-head of the Secret Service, Julia Pierson.