A dangerous and bizarre incident took place near President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday.
After leading police on a high-speed chase that ended with gunfire, a 30-year-old Connecticut woman identified as Hannah Roemhild was arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, shortly before President Trump was scheduled to arrive for the weekend.
What happened?
According to reports, police were called to a scene where the apparently intoxicated woman was dancing on top of a car in a motel parking lot.
When the police arrived, Roemhild proceeded to get into her SUV. Officers tried to get her to roll her window down so that they could speak with her, but she refused.
After she started rummaging through the glove box, they were forced to break the vehicle’s window, and things only got worse from there.
The chase
Somehow, Roemhild managed to speed away from the scene, driving some 70 mph, often while driving on the wrong side of the road.
During the chase, she managed to crash through two security checkpoints near Mar-A-Lago that were set up in preparation for the president’s expected arrival. She was en route to a third when police and Secret Service agents opened fire on her vehicle.
But, even then, she managed to elude the police and drove her bullet-pocked vehicle to the West Palm Beach airport, where she picked up her mother, the Miami Herald reported. Police finally caught up with the two women at a local motel.
Bizarre episode
According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, there isn’t much to see here. He said that Roemhild was not “even remotely close” to the “inner perimeter” of Trump’s resort, and that “this is not a terrorist thing.” Rather, Bradshaw said, “This is someone who was obviously impaired somehow and driving very recklessly.
According to reporting from Reuters, Roemhild, an opera singer, has posted anti-Trump content on social media in the past. However, the sheriff seemed to downplay possible political motivations, saying, “There was clearly no intention. I’m not so sure she knew where she was going.”
Roemhild is now expected to be facing a host of charges ranging from various traffic violations to assault on a federal officer as well as assault on two sheriff’s deputies.
President Trump arrived at Mar-A-Lago later that day — as scheduled.
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