A scare at Reagan's farewell...
Reporter Melissa Lynn at
Business Week writes about a scare people received during the viewing of Reagan's casket in the Capitol Building today:
bq. Ronald Reagan was no ordinary man, and June 9, the day his flag-draped casket was pulled by caisson up Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol where thousands will pay their last respects, was no ordinary day. I had the honor to cover the first state funeral in the Capitol in more than 30 years, an event that overrode the fact that it felt like I was in the middle of a sauna. Security was tight, but welcome to Washington post-September 11.
bq. Little did I know how much this day would bring home the new reality all Americans live with. I entered the Capitol and approached the elevator doors when the alarm started ringing, and a voice said, "Evacuate. This is not a test!" Initially, the people around me didn't move. Then Capitol police officers began to scream and herded us out the door.
bq. I was no longer thinking of Reagan. I was thinking of 9/11. As soon as I got outside, the police started to guide us. Then some actually started running with us. Women were throwing their shoes in the grass. I took mine off, heard an officer yell at me to keep going, and I felt the first rock dig into my foot. The moment of true terror for me was seeing a police officer turn around and look toward the sky over the Capitol. Then I ran faster than my legs could carry me.
She then writes about the cause:
bq. The cause of the uproar, as we later learned: an unidentified aircraft had entered Capitol airspace without authorization. It turned out to be the private craft carrying Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher to the ceremony. False alarm.
Posted by DaveH at June 10, 2004 2:53 PM