Authorities have released the name of the man who allegedly flew a small drone near the White House on Thursday.
Ryan MacDonald, 39, was arrested and issued a citation, the U.S. Park Police said Friday. The incident resulted in the presidential mansion being placed on lockdown with surrounding streets closed for more than an hour during a police sweep.
He is scheduled to appear in court in June. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
President Barack Obama was at Camp David at the time of the incident, the second involving a drone at the White House this year. Four months ago, another man — a U.S. intelligence employee — lost control of a borrowed personal quadcopter drone that he’d been flying around his apartment, intending to send it out his window and then bring it back inside.
That drone crash-landed on the White House lawn around 3 a.m. The man reported that he had been flying the drone to the Secret Service only after learning where it had crashed from news reports, and he did not face criminal charges.
