The only time a sitting United States president has been arrested.
By Curt_Anderson January 21, 2024 4:43 pm Category: History (0.0 from 0 votes)
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When President Ulysses S. Grant Was Arrested for Speeding in a Horse-Drawn Carriage The sitting commander in chief insisted the Black police officer who cited him not face punishment for doing his duty
When police officer William Henry West pulled over Ulysses S. Grant for speeding in a horse-drawn carriage on the streets of Washington, D.C. in 1872, he issued the president a warning. The very next day, however, West caught Grant in the midst of another race with his friends.
Looking like “a schoolboy who had been caught in a guilty act by his teacher,” as West recalled to the Evening Star in 1908, Grant reportedly asked, “Do you think, officer, that I was violating the speed laws?” Answering in the affirmative, West replied, “I am very sorry, Mr. President, to have to do it, for you are the chief of the nation, and I am nothing but a policeman, but duty is duty, sir, and I will have to place you under arrest.”
The president willingly consented to being taken down to the police station, even asking West about his wartime experiences during their ride. Grant, leader of the U.S. Army during the Civil War, reassured West he would not face any repercussions for the arrest, “as he admired a man who did his duty,” the Evening Star wrote. Upon arriving at the station, Grant paid $20 in collateral, then watched in amusement as his six companions, some of them prominent government officials, protested their arrests on a similar speeding charge.
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When President Ulysses S. Grant Was Arrested for Speeding in a Horse-Drawn Carriage