The Secret Service has apologized to a Massachusetts salon owner after her security camera showed individuals breaking into her business to use the bathroom while on assignment for a nearby VP Kamala Harris fundraiser.
Berkshires salon owner Alicia Powers says someone picked her lock and broke into her store to use the bathroom after a Secret Service officer covered a camera with tape.
Those using the bathroom included a pair in emergency medical uniforms, while a person in a camouflage law enforcement uniform and another in a dark suit with a white shirt could be seen guarding the door.
The U.S. Secret Service is apologizing to a Massachusetts salon owner after an agent covered her security camera with duct tape and broke into her salon by picking the lock so that its bathroom could be used by various people for a two-hour period.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 11, 2024
After the two-hour period,… pic.twitter.com/s4qSFtebn0
According to the NY Post:
A Secret Service rep was adamant that agents would not break into buildings like that — but did not deny that an officer covered her camera with tape, an act that was captured by surveillance footage, and appeared to cop some sort of mea culpa in a statement.
"The Secret Service has since communicated with the affected business owner. We hold these relationships in the highest regard and our personnel would not enter, or instruct our partners to enter, a business without the owner’s permission," said spox Melissa McKenzie.
According to Business Insider, the head of the Secret Service's Boston-based field office called the salon owner to apologize.
"He said to me everything that was done was done very wrong," said Powers. "They were not supposed to tape my camera without permission. They were not supposed to enter the building without permission."
According to Powers, the incident took place on July 27, prior to Harris' first major in-person fundraiser since President Biden announced he was dropping out of the race. The salon is held behind the Colonial Theatre, where Harris' event was held. She added that her salon was closed before the fundraiser due to the chaotic security presence.
"They had a bunch of people in and out of here doing a couple of bomb sweeps again — totally understand what they have to do, due to the nature of the situation," she told Insider. "And at that point, my team felt like it was a little bit chaotic, and we just made the decision to close for Saturday."
After the tape was placed on the camera, her interior cameras detected four other people over a 90 minute span.
"There were several people in and out for about an hour and a half — just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission," she told the outlet. "And then when they were done using the bathroom for two hours, they left and left my building completely unlocked and did not take the tape off the camera.
"Whoever was visiting, whether it was a celebrity or not, I probably would’ve opened the door and made them coffee and brought in donuts to make it a great afternoon for them,” she said. “But they didn’t even have the audacity to ask for permission. They just helped themselves."
