Washington, DC – A well-dressed man stripped down naked in front of the White House on Friday when refused permission to meet the president and the US Secret Service noted that he then assaulted an officer who attempted to subdue him.
Edwin Donovan, of the United States Secret Service Office of Government and Public Affairs identified him as Michel Bechard.
Donovan told India America Today, “Bechard approached uniformed division officers at the White House and he got fully undressed.” As the officers attempted to subdue him, “he became combatant and assaulted an officer,” said Donovan.
“Bechard was arrested and charged with two counts of assault and one count of indecent exposure,” Donovan told India America Today. Later the man was taken to a nearby hospital by an ambulance as he had suffered minor injuries, concluded Donovan.
It was not clear why Bechard took off all his clothes but the eyewitness account said he demanded to go into the White House to meet the president but his name was not on the cleared list. The journalists going into the White House had to wait as the outer area was cordoned off while Bechard was arrested and then taken away in an ambulance.
According to Donovan of the US Secret Service, the normal activities inside the White House were not affected by the incident.