A Secret Service agent assigned to the vice president’s protective detail was removed last Monday after she exhibited “distressing behavior” and had to be hospitalized.
The incident occurred at Joint Base Andrews at about 9:00 a.m. on April 22 as Secret Service agents prepared for Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Wisconsin.
According to a statement from the US Secret Service, the agent displayed behavior the other agents “found distressing” and was removed from duty pending an assessment from medical personnel.
According to sources briefed on the incident, the agent was speaking incoherently and started a physical altercation with another agent.
Secret Service agents intervened and handcuffed the agent. Ambulances were called to the scene and after an initial evaluation, the agent was admitted to the hospital. The Secret Service said there was no indication that substance abuse played a part in the incident.
While the Secret Service refused to name the agent, her identity was later revealed by several sources within the agency as 43-year-old Michelle Herczeg.
The sources said Herczeg grabbed the phone of another agent and began deleting apps. The agent retrieved his phone and carried on as if nothing unusual happened.
However, Herczeg continued to act bizarrely, muttering to herself and hiding behind curtains before throwing objects, including feminine pads, at the agent.
The sources said Herczeg told her fellow agents that they were going to Hell unless they listened to God. She also claimed that the other female agents on Vice President Harris’ detail would be coming to help her stay on the detail.
When the senior agent in charge of the detail approached Herczeg to relieve her, she “snapped,” a source said. She attacked the senior agent, tackling him. It was then that the other agents restrained and handcuffed her.
Vice President Kamala Harris was not at Andrews at the time of the incident but was still at the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory. The incident did not impede the vice president’s travel to Wisconsin later that morning, the Secret Service said.
According to the Secret Service, the incident was being treated as a medical issue rather than a disciplinary issue.
