The 19-year-old man arrested after allegedly crashing a U-Haul truck into security barriers near the White House earlier this week has been ordered held in detention following a federal court appearance Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Sai Kandula has been charged with one count of depredation of government property and faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Prosecutors told the court Kandula is not a U.S. citizen but did not specify where he is from. The U.S. Park Police said Tuesday he is from Chesterfield, Missouri.
Kandula appeared Wednesday in an orange prison jumpsuit following the incident in Lafayette Square Monday night.
“Kandula drove onto the sidewalk, sending multiple pedestrians running from the scene,” a Secret Service agent wrote in charging documents obtained earlier Wednesday by Fox News. “[A] U.S. Park Police officer observed the U-Haul strike the metal bollard barriers that prevent vehicles from entering Lafayette Square, north of the White House grounds. After striking the barriers, the U-Haul backed up in reverse, and lurched forward, again striking the metal barriers.”
CHARGES FILED AGAINST DRIVER OF U-HAUL TRUCK THAT CRASHED NEAR WHITE HOUSE
A male driver was arrested and charged after hitting a barrier in Lafayette Square near the White House. (Chris Zaboji/Local News X/TMX)
There were no injuries to any Secret Service or White House personnel.
In the charging documents, the Secret Service agent wrote that the U.S. Park Police officer watched Kandula exit the U-Haul and remove “a red and white flag with a Nazi Swastika in the center from a black backpack he was carrying.”
He then was ordered to the ground and taken into custody.
During an interview later with Secret Service agents, Kandula said he “flew into Washington, D.C., from St. Louis at approximately 8 p.m. that evening on a one-way ticket. Upon arriving at Dulles International Airport, he rented a U-Haul from a nearby location and drove directly to the White House,” the document says.
A flag flies atop the White House Nov. 15, 2000, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Newsmakers)
The agent, citing that interview, wrote that “Kandula stated his goal was to ‘get to the White House, seize power and be put in charge of the nation.’ When agents asked how Kandula would seize power, he stated he would ‘Kill the President if that’s what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way.’ Kandula made clear in the interview that by ‘the president’ he meant the President of the United States.”
U-HAUL TRUCK CRASHES INTO BARRIERS NEAR WHITE HOUSE, SUSPECT IN CUSTODY, OFFICIALS SAY
The suspect, when asked “if he knew how dangerous his actions were, said he knew he would be arrested, but his ‘book’ would get to those who needed to see it,” the agent also wrote.
“By ‘book’ Kandula said this referred to his ‘green book’ which is an outlet for his thoughts,” the charging document added. “Kandula stated he eventually started writing his plans to enter the White House, and what he would accomplish if he was in charge.”
A U-Haul truck crashed into barriers near the White House Monday, May 22, 2023. (Fox News)
When asked about the flag, Kandula allegedly said he bought it online and idolized Hitler and the Nazis’ “authoritarian nature,” according to the documents.
The damage to the barriers is estimated to be more than $1,000. The USPP officer who responded also noticed the U-Haul “was smoking from the front hood and liquids were leaking from the vehicle’s undercarriage,” it added.
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“Kandula’s acts were calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct,” the agent concluded in the document.
A spokesman for the Rockwood School District in Missouri told Fox News Digital Tuesday a student by the name of Sai Varshith Kandula graduated from Marquette High School in Chesterfield last year.
