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Ottawa police have arrested a man they say crashed a vehicle into the gates of Parliament Hill while carrying “edged weapons,” including a sword.
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The incident happened early Wednesday morning at 3:30 a.m. when an unauthorized vehicle drove onto Wellington Street, which is closed to traffic, and drove into the front gates, he said the Ottawa Police Service in a press release.
Safety infrastructure prevented the vehicle from going any further, police added, and a nearby Ottawa police officer took the driver into custody without further incident. There was minimal damage to the doors.
The driver, Maxwell Pate, 29, appeared in court later on Wednesday and was charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle and disorderly conduct. Pate was previously charged with two counts of assault with a weapon on May 2. He was free on the condition that he not have weapons.
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But police allege he had a number of “edged weapons” including a sword when he slammed the door.
Pate was reported missing earlier this year and police said at the time that he was possibly armed with a knife and a risk of harm to himself or others.
OPS said it was leading the investigation into the incident along with the Parliamentary Protection Service, which oversees security at the parliamentary grounds.
Vehicular traffic has been banned on Wellington Street since police cleared the “Freedom Convoy” protesters, which for weeks in early 2022 were in front of Parliament Hill and through the city centre.
A parliamentary commission is currently evaluating whether the street should remain permanently off limits to vehicle traffic.
In July, Ottawa police shared an image of a white pickup truck covered in “Freedom Convoy” images and loaded with flags that had driven through barriers erected on Wellington Street to keep vehicles out. The driver of that vehicle was fined more than $1,000 for driving on a closed roadway and disobeying a signal, among other offenses.
With files from Aedan Helmer