Secret Service agents assigned to Ella Emhoff, the stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, arrested a Manhattan man after he confronted them and ripped license plate covers from their vehicles while she was having lunch inside a nearby restaurant.
"On Tuesday afternoon, an individual approached two United States Secret Service vehicles parked in lower Manhattan and, without provocation, caused damage to the rear license plate area of both," the Secret Service said in a statement, reports The New York Post.
The agency added that the man was "quickly detained" until officers from the New York City Police Department arrived and arrested him.
"At no point was any protectee in danger as a result of this incident," the Secret Service added.
According to reports, Emhoff, the daughter of Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, was having lunch with a friend at a Tribeca restaurant at about 12:40 p.m. when the man who was arrested, identified as Harry Heymann, 45, confronted her detail as they waited for her outside.
The Post reports that Heymann, who lives near the restaurant where Emhoff was eating, goes around New York City and complains about cars that have NYPD parking placards and park anywhere instead of driving around.
He confronted one of Emhoff's plain-clothes agents at Hudson and North Moore Street, not knowing that he was in the Secret Service, and went on to rip license plate covers off of both of the agency's black SUVs that were parked on the street.
Emhoff, according to a video, was rushed out and put into one of the vehicles.
Heymann, who has a Manhattan address, has been charged with a fourth-degree charge of criminal mischief and a second-degree charge of obstruction of governmental administration. Both charges are misdemeanors, according to the NYPD.
The Secret Service said Heymann's mug shot will not be released, and that the NYPD reports he has no known prior arrests
However, he is known to the police after complaining about an obscured license plate in the same section of the Tribeca neighborhood.
Heymann said in his account on X that the NYPD closed out his request and said that police action was "not necessary."
"Apparently driving around in a ghost car is perfectly fine with @NYPD1Pct if you've got a fireman's placard and blue tape on your truck," he posted on July 9, including photos of the plate and the department's response.
The incident occurred as the Secret Service has been under fire after the attempted assassination of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at his July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The former president's right ear was grazed, and the shooter, Thomas Crooks, was killed by the Secret Service.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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