DC man jumps White House fence

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A 41-year-old man has been charged with unlawful entry after he jumped the fence that surrounds the White House Thursday and was quickly apprehended by the U.S. Secret Service, a spokesman said.

The man was identified as Curtis Brown, of the District of Columbia. He remains in jail late Thursday, said U.S. Secret Service spokesman John Gill.

"An individual black male came over the fence on Pennsylvania Avenue and was taken into custody by Secret Service uniform division officers and is currently being interviewed by agents from the service," Secret Service spokesman Brian Marr said.

According to the U.S. Secret Service, Brown threw an object into the fountain on the White House lawn, jumped over the 7-foot-high northwest gate, and was apprehended immediately, at about 9:41 a.m. EDT.

The Secret Service would not say what Brown threw into the fountain, which is located approximately 150 feet away from the street in front of the North Portico.

"All the information is it's just a fence-jumper. We're still looking. We're still talking to the individual," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said today, while ignoring questions of how Brown made it "halfway to the White House."

President George Bush was in North Carolina at the time of the incident.