A video has emerged showing the immediate aftermath of a recent accident involving one of the Secret Service’s so-called Roadrunners — a heavily modified Ford F350 Super Duty variant that normally forms part of a U.S. presidential motorcade and which we have discussed on more than one occasion in the past. This newest version of the Roadrunner first emerged in 2018.
According to initial reports, the vehicle — which has a unique six-door design — crashed while traveling to Live Oak, Florida, on September 2. The Roadrunner was headed there ahead of a visit by President Joe Biden, who was surveying the destruction from Hurricane Idalia and meeting victims of the storm.
A Secret Service vehicle from the Presidential motorcade just crashed on his way to Live Oak ahead of Biden visit pic.twitter.com/GkjKc4K5yl
— marco congiu (@marcocongiu) September 2, 2023
U.S. Highway 90, U.S. Highway 129, and Interstate 10 are all major highways running through Live Oak, although, at this time, the exact location of the incident hasn’t been confirmed.
The video of the accident, taken from a moving car, as well as an accompanying photo, were provided to The War Zone by Marco Congiu, a U.S. Correspondent for the Italian news channel SkyTg24. It shows the Secret Service vehicle having departed the road and come to a rest straddling the crash barrier running down the highway’s central reservation. At least one emergency vehicle and what appears to be another Secret Service vehicle were already on the scene at the point the imagery was taken.
It’s not unheard of for vehicles that make up the Presidential Motorcade to have issues from time to time. Considering how modified some of them are, including the huge weight they carry, like any vehicle, they can run into issues occasionally (see videos below). You can read one Secret Service agent’s account of such an incident here. Although an actual wreck, especially of a critical vehicle like the Roadrunner, certainly is rare.
