Drunk Secret Service agents may have driven over suspicious package, report alleges; Updated

Shamed former Secret Service director Julia Pierson resigned last fall after several high-profile incidents — in particular, the case of a man who made it over the fence, through the White House’s North Portico and all the way to the East Room — cost the agency all credibility. Pierson’s exit was supposed to be the first step in cleaning up the Secret Service and its reputation … and then this happened.

Several media outlets are reporting that two Secret Service agents are being investigated for driving drunk after returning from a party March 4 and crashing into a White House barrier.

Report: 2 Secret Service agents are under investigation after a crash outside the White House. http://t.co/82j36ugmHx pic.twitter.com/Gdr3asqArd

— CNN (@CNN) March 12, 2015

Don't Secret Service agents know that you take the metro if you're drunk. I mean, c'mon. http://t.co/RdhKJesOpg

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) March 12, 2015

The Secret Service is Pretty Much Just 'Animal House' Nowhttp://t.co/QT5eLVY4XW pic.twitter.com/50PnmMh27Y

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 12, 2015

The Washington Post reports today, however, that that “embarrassing” incident might actually be much more serious than originally reported.

Buried lede: somebody threw a package over the White House fence, told police officers "it's a bomb," and escaped http://t.co/UmmjKCCxEs

— Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) March 12, 2015

Someone claims to have thrown a bomb over the White House fence? The Washington Post reports:

About 10:25 that night, a Pennsylvania woman hopped out of her blue Toyota near the southeast entrance of the White House on 15th Street NW, and, holding a package wrapped in a green shirt, approached an agent.

“I’m holding an [expletive] bomb,” she yelled, according to a government official with knowledge of the incident.

The woman then sped off.

…

But shortly before 11 p.m., the two high-ranking Secret Service agents, returning from a work party at a Chinatown bar about eight blocks from the White House, drove their government car through the crime scene. According to people familiar with the incident, they drove through police tape and then hit a temporary barricade, using the car to push aside some barrels. An agency official said Thursday that the car was not damaged.

The episode was caught on surveillance video. Investigators who have reviewed the tape of the incident say the pair either drove very close to or over the suspicious item wrapped in the shirt, one law enforcement official said.