CUT OFF IN TRAFFIC

Man Arrested After Capitol Cops Find Bizarre Item in Pickup Truck

The suspect had parked near the Capitol with the tall device, authorities said.

The U.S. Capitol Police arrested a California man on Tuesday after they found a guillotine in the back of his pickup truck. Authorities said the suspect, 35-year-old Philan-Tam-Duy Le of Julian, California, had illegally parked in the 100 block of East Capitol Street, “which is directly east of the Capitol, between the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. Officers noticed the truck just after 3 p.m., after which they arrested the suspect and charged him with carrying a dangerous weapon, according to a press release. The suspect, whose motives and background are still being determined, had allegedly driven across the country to Washington, D.C. Whether he did so with the guillotine was not immediately clear. In photographs taken by the Capitol Police, the frame of the wooden decapitation device, which rose to prominence during the French Revolution, extends several feet above the roof of the truck and into the overhanging tree branches.