In a major security lapse, a private security contractor with a gun and a violent criminal past rode in an elevator with US President Obama last month, the latest in a series of embarrassing missteps by the Secret Service.
The incident occurred on September 16 in Atlanta while Obama was visiting the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss the response to the Ebola virus, Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
“A security contractor with a gun and three convictions for assault and battery was allowed on an elevator with President Obama during a September 16 trip to Atlanta, violating Secret Service protocols,” the paper said. The unnamed contractor used a phone camera to create a video of Obama in the elevator, a step security personnel are barred from taking.He did not comply when Secret Service agents asked him to stop, the report said.
The agents questioned him, and used a database that showed he had a criminal record — three convictions for assault and battery.A supervisor from the security firm fired the contractor on the spot. The man then agreed to turn over his gun, which he should not have had in Obama’s presence.