According to reports the Secret Service is investigating, two senior agents, including a member of the president’s protective detail, got liquored up and drive an official vehicle into a barricade outside the White House.  They were able to walk away from the incident, according to Carol D. Leoning of the Washington Post:

Officers on duty who witnessed the March 4 incident wanted to arrest the agents and conduct sobriety tests, according to a current and a former government official familiar with the incident. But the officers were ordered by a supervisor on duty that night to let the agents go home, said these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal matter.

As Clarice Feldman, remarked, “[l]uckily they weren't a confused young black woman with her toddler in the car – then they'd have been shot for sure.”  She refers to Miriam Carrey, who was “shot to death by the Secret Service and the U.S. Capitol Police on Oct. 3, 2013, after a car chase from the White House to Capitol Hill. Her 13-month-old daughter survived in a car seat.”

The episode presents an early test for the Secret Service’s new director, Joseph P. Clancy, who was appointed by Obama last month after a string of security lapses at the White House and other embarrassing missteps and had vowed to restore the agency’s once-stellar reputation.

Clancy on Monday directed that the inquiry be led by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, in part because the incident involves such senior officials, a law enforcement official said.

As Rick Moran notes, the Secret Service seems to be a hard-drinking bunch.  I am certain it takes a lot of macho moxie to be willing to take a bullet and keep up with the demands of the job.  But these guys were really pushing it:

The incident happened about 10:30 p.m. on the White House compound near 15th Street NW and Freedom Plaza, as D.C. police officers and Secret Service officers were trying to clear the scene because of an investigation of a suspicious package, according to the people familiar with the incident.

Witnesses reported that the car’s overhead flashing lights had been activated and both agents were showing their badges to get through the section of the grounds that had been closed off, according to people familiar with the incident.

The vehicle ran through security tape before hitting the barricades, which an agency official said had been set up temporarily during the investigation of the package.

Secret Service rules prohibit turning on flashing lights without a security reason and driving a government vehicle after drinking alcohol.

The obvious disparity between the treatment of the agents and the killing of Ms. Carey is bound to further enflame racial grievances.  Perhaps Eric Holder’s Justice Department will call for dismantling the Secret Service?