Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, says that a small electronic device found on the White House lawn overnight is not thought to pose a threat to anyone within the building.
WASHINGTON — The small drone that crashed into a tree on the South Lawn of the White House early Monday morning was operated by a government employee who has told the Secret Service that he did not mean to fly it over the White House fence and near the president’s residence, according to law enforcement officials.
The employee — who does not work for the White House — has told the Secret Service that he was flying the drone for recreational purposes at about 3 a.m. in the area around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when he lost control of it.
So far, the Secret Service said it believed the man’s account.
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On July 7, police questioned a person who was flying a small, quad drone near the Lincoln Memorial. And on July 3, police detained a person who was flying a drone at President’s Park, just south of the White House fence.
The F.A.A. description for the July 3 incident said that a Secret Service patrol reported someone operating a “quad-copter w/camera within P-56A” at an altitude of about 100 feet. The description said the individual was detained and the drone was confiscated by the Secret Service.
Michael D. Shear and Michael S. Schmidt reported from Washington and Peter Baker contributed reporting from New Delhi.
