Wheels of Government Stalled Atop Capitol Terrorist Barrier

A new emergency street barricade at the Capitol unexpectedly sprang into action Tuesday and halted its first automobile. The occupants were not terrorists, however, but members of the White House staff.

Capitol police spokesman Michael Hannelb said it was all a mistake.

The White House staff car was leaving the Capitol plaza, headed for the exit to Independence Avenue on the House side, when a technician working on a control panel in a police guardhouse accidentally tripped the anti-terrorist barricade’s emergency release, Hannelb said.

Four Barriers

The hydraulically operated steel barricade--one of four hidden in the pavement of the entrance and exit lanes of the House side of the Capitol--suddenly raised into position.

The front end of the White House sedan, which reached the first of the two barricades in the exit lane at that moment, was lifted about three feet atop the barricade’s steel blade before it was lowered manually.

Damage to the automobile was minor, police said, and neither of the occupants--a chauffeur and an unidentified White House staff employee--was injured.

Witnesses said the unidentified passenger leaped out, complaining that she was late for a meeting at the White House, and ran back to the Capitol to call for another car.

The incident took place shortly after President Reagan had left the Capitol after conferring with Republican leaders. The Secret Service said the halted staff car was not part of Reagan’s motorcade, which entered and departed on the Senate side.

The barricades were installed recently at the main vehicular entrances to the House and Senate sides of the Capitol grounds, but Hannelb said they are still being wired and tested by the manufacturer and have not been turned over officially to Capitol police.

House Sergeant-at-Arms Jack Russ said the incident Tuesday was the first time the barricades have stopped a vehicle.