Trespasser arrested in second White House incident: official

WASHINGTON: A man was arrested at the White House and charged with trespassing Saturday, one day after an intruder scaled the fence along its perimeter and gained access to the building.

Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary told AFP that a man was placed under arrest when he turned up in his car a short time after being denied entrance at a pedestrian access point.

The man had originally approached a gate on the northwest side of the White House on foot but "was sent on his way by our uniformed division," Leary said. However, he later tried to gain access to a vehicle entrance point on another side of the White House.

"He doesn´t hit the barriers, he gets out of his vehicle, he´s compliant -- but he was in a restricted area and he was told not to be there, so he was arrested," said Leary.

"He was charged with unlawful entry," Leary said, adding that the individual, Kevin Carr of Shamong, New Jersey, was subsequently transferred to the custody of local District of Columbia police.

Compared to the security breach one day earlier, officials said Saturday´s incident was a relatively minor affair.

"This is an everyday occurrence," another Secret Service spokesman, Ed Donovan, told AFP, adding that at no point did Carr attempt to enter White House grounds. "It´s being overblown," he said, as US media quickly ramped up coverage of the incident.

Donovan made his comments following harsh criticism of the Secret Service over Friday´s scare in which a fence-jumper gained entry into the White House before being apprehended.

President Barack Obama and his family were not home at the time, though officials and journalists were rushed out of the building during the disturbance that began on the North Lawn around 7:20 pm (2320 GMT) Friday, the Secret Service said.

Minutes earlier, the first family had left by helicopter from the South Lawn headed for Camp David, the presidential weekend retreat, and were still there on Saturday, officials said. (AFP)