The US Secret Service issued an apology to Alicia Powers, a salon owner based in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts, after footage posted on social media shows individuals forcibly entering the business premises to use the restroom facilities, during the agency’s security preparations for a nearby fundraiser event for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Secret Service spokesperson Melissa McKenzie said: “The Secret Service has since communicated with the affected business owner. We hold these relationships in the highest regard and our personnel would not enter, or instruct our partners to enter, a business without the owner’s permission,”
“He said to me everything that was done was done very wrong. They were not supposed to tape my camera without permission. They were not supposed to enter the building without permission, Powers told Business Insider.
According to the shop owner that owns Four One Three Salon in Pittsfield, the incident occurred after a Secret Service officer obscured a security camera located outside her salon using tape and tampered with the lock and gained unauthorized access to her store, to use the bathroom.
Based on available video footage, Powers said the individuals who entered the restroom consisted of two people wearing emergency medical attire, an individual in camouflage law-enforcement uniform, and a person dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, resembling a Secret Service agent, who stood guard at the entrance.
A representative from the Secret Service firmly maintained that their agents would not engage in forceful entry into buildings in such a manner.
However, the representative did not refute the allegation that an officer had covered Powers’ camera with tape, an action that was recorded by the surveillance system and appeared to cop some sort of mea culpa in a statement, The New York post reported.
The show owner said that the incident occurred on July 27, prior to Harris’ inaugural significant face-to-face fundraising event since President Biden withdrew from the presidential race, clearing the path for the vice president to secure the Democratic nomination.
The salon, situated behind Colonial Theatre, served as the venue for Harris’ gathering. The owner mentioned that due to the chaotic security measures, her salon had to shut down before the fundraiser took place, The New York Post reported.
She said: “They had a bunch of people in and out of here doing a couple of bomb sweeps again — totally understand what they have to do, due to the nature of the situation,” she told the outlet.
“And at that point, my team felt like it was a little bit chaotic, and we just made the decision to close for Saturday,” she added.
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Publish date : 2024-08-11 11:30:00
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