A man was arrested on Thursday in London on suspicion of criminal damage and dangerous driving after a car crashed into the gates of 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister. PM Rishi Sunak was in his office at the time of the incident but left soon after in a motorcade from another exit for a pre-scheduled departure. No injuries have been reported.
The 2009 silver Kia, which was registered in London, can be seen slowing down as it approaches Downing Street’s main entrance in surveillance footage of the event. Footage of the incident shows the car crossing the street and then moving straight ahead towards 10 Downing Street at a slow speed. The car had reversed into a Ministry of Defence car park across the road before crossing the road.
Worst. Ram Raid. Ever!
— Danny Denay #FBPE #GTTO (@DannyDenay) May 25, 2023
Car "crashes" into Downing Street gates#bbcnews #skynews pic.twitter.com/qMTtMTwkVj
The Metropolitan Police informed that the occurrence is not being treated as terror-related. Following the incident at 16:20 British Summer Time (BST), a portion of Whitehall, the main thoroughfare that passes through the centre of various government offices, was evacuated.
Since then, the police barrier has been lifted and traffic on the route has resumed. The automobile was put onto a police recovery truck and driven away from the site at 19:45 BST.
Officers examined the vehicle and also took a cell phone from the car. Sniffer dogs and a forensics officer were at the location investigating the car. It was not clear if the crash had been deliberate or not. Many people on social media noted that the car was moving to slow to call it a ‘crash’.
Car crashes into Downing Street gates as police arrest suspected ‘dangerous driver’ pic.twitter.com/u3mhXeThiI
— Evening Standard (@standardnews) May 25, 2023
One witness reported seeing police holding the culprit “face to the floor” and detaining him while pointing Tasers. Witness 44-year-old Simon Parry heard a “bang” and saw officers pointing Tasers at the man. “A lot of police vehicles came very quickly and were very quick to evacuate the area,” he stated.
“We saw people that were in a panic running away and we saw people who were excited,” he described the reaction of people regarding the instance.
Matthew Torbitt, a 32-year-old, claimed he heard a loud blast and was halted on Whitehall when police cordoned off the area.
Armed and unarmed police officers are stationed at the street’s entrance 24 hours a day, and Whitehall is the only route that leads there. The PM and the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt as well as a network of offices that connect to other government buildings were in Downing Street at the time of the crash.
Whitehall was reportedly “pretty much back to normal” with people entering and exiting Downing Street on foot as usual, and it looked that the gate had sustained minimal damage.
Central London is an iconic landmark and has been a target in the past including one in which a driver struck several pedestrians with a vehicle outside government offices near Westminster Bridge. At least four people, including the assailant, were killed and forty others were injured in the terrorist attack.
Recently an Indian-origin man named Sai Varshith Kandula (19) was charged with attempting to kill the US president after he rammed a U-Haul truck into the White House barricades.
