Woman charged with plowing into Capitol Police cruiser

WASHINGTON — A 20-year-old woman described as “erratic and aggressive” drove a vehicle into a U.S. Capitol Police cruiser and was taken into custody Wednesday morning, a disruption that closed down streets near the Capitol for nearly three hours.

Shots were fired during the arrest attempt, but the event appeared to be criminal in nature with “no nexus to terrorism,” said Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki. No one was injured, and the U.S. Capitol remained open.

Late Wednesday afternoon, police identified the driver as Taleah Everett, no fixed address. She was charged with seven counts of assault on a police officer, among other offenses.

According to online court records in Maryland, Everett was due in court Wednesday morning in a domestic-violence case at roughly the same time as the incident at the Capitol. She was the subject of a no-contact order, the records show.

Relatives of Everett in Maryland did not immediately respond to telephone messages.

Malecki described the woman as an “erratic and aggressive driver.” As police attempted to stop her, she made a U-turn and fled, nearly hitting officers and striking at least one other vehicle, Malecki said. A brief pursuit followed before the woman was stopped.

The chase took place near the U.S. Botanic Garden. Malecki said shots were fired “during the attempt to arrest the suspect,” but she declined to say how many shots were fired or to elaborate further.

The disruption happened near the end of the morning rush hour and prompted a large police response just as lines of people were waiting to get into a nearby congressional office building. Streets near the Capitol were closed, and reopened nearly three hours later.