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The incident occurred early Wednesday morning at 3:30 a.m. when an unauthorized vehicle drove onto Wellington Street, which is closed to traffic, and into the front gates, the Ottawa Police Service said in a media release. information. Safety infrastructure prevented the vehicle from proceeding further, police added, and a nearby Ottawa police officer arrested the driver without further incident. There was minimal damage to the gates. The driver, Maxwell Pate, 29, appeared in court later on Wednesday and was charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle and disorderly conduct. Pate was previously charged with two counts of assault with a weapon on May 2. He was released on the condition that he not possess weapons.
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But police claim he had several “edged weapons”, including a sword, when he knocked on the gate. Pate was reported missing earlier this year and police said at the time that he was likely armed with a knife and was at risk of harming himself or others. The OPS said it is leading the investigation into the incident along with the Parliamentary Protection Service, which oversees Parliament security. Vehicular traffic has been banned on Wellington Street since police cleared the ‘Freedom Parade’ which had been protesting for weeks in front of Parliament Hill and throughout the city centre. A parliamentary committee is currently considering whether the road should remain permanently off-limits to vehicular traffic. In July, Ottawa police shared an image of a white truck covered in “Freedom Convoy” imagery and loaded with flags that had driven through barriers set up on Wellington Street to keep vehicles out. The driver of that vehicle was fined more than $1,000 for driving on a closed road and a license plate violation, among other violations. With files from Aedan Helmer
