The U.S. Park Police have taken responsibility for having prevented journalists from covering a White House demonstration on April 21, 2010. A single, uniformed Park Police officer ordered reporters and camera crews to move back after gay rights activists handcuffed themselves to the White House gate. The officer ordered journalists to move toward the far side of Lafayette Park, preventing them having a view of the demonstration. Captured on camera, the officer is seen telling journalists and others alike in the middle of the day that the park was closed.
“That was strictly the U.S. Parks Police that screwed up–that has nothing to do with the Secret Service of the White House or the administration,” U.S. Park Police David Sergeant Schlosser told Politico. “We had some young officers who, when they were told to move the people back–which we typically do when we’re going to make arrests–they moved the people back a lot further than we typically do. That was a rookie, amateur error and they screwed up on that.”