Overview
- Authorities say the incident began Tuesday when 29-year-old Alexa R. Scharf drove into a closed Secret Service screening area near President Trump’s Mar‑a‑Lago, exited her vehicle and later reentered it.
- According to police reports, Scharf then drove toward a Secret Service agent and a Palm Beach police captain, fled south on South Ocean Boulevard and was stopped after officers deployed stop sticks and cornered her vehicle in a driveway.
- Officers broke the vehicle’s windows to make contact, extracted Scharf and arrested her on two counts of aggravated assault, felony fleeing and resisting arrest, based on allegations she tried to strike officers with the vehicle.
- When officers opened the car a pit bull charged and bit an officer, and an officer shot the dog twice; the animal later died despite veterinary care and an initial on-scene review found the shooting did not violate department policy.
- The incident closed part of South Ocean Boulevard for hours, involved the Secret Service, Palm Beach police and the county sheriff’s office, and court and jail records show a reported $16,000 bond with at least one outlet reporting a subsequent release on bond.