SOUTHAVEN, Nov 2: A woman rammed a car carrying children into a building where US President George W. Bush was campaigning on Saturday, drawing a swarm of police in her wake before being dragged away at gunpoint.

Bush was in his limousine ready to leave the arena when the screaming woman hit the same side of the building, near the exit the president’s motorcade was to use. Bush was one level below, down a ramp about 75 yards (metres) away.

“We don’t think there was any malice against the president. ... It was a matter of very bad timing,” a DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department official, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

Employees of the DeSoto Civic Center said they ran away from the crash, scared that it was an attempted car bombing.

But the Sheriff’s Department official said the woman had been awake all night arguing with her husband, was late for the event and grew increasingly frustrated as she was turned away from the building at checkpoint after checkpoint.—Reuters