Missouri man who crashed U-Haul into White House barrier and had Nazi flag gets 8 years

A man who crashed a U-Haul rental truck into barriers protecting the White House has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Sai Varshith Kandula, who was 19 and lived in Chesterfield, Missouri, at the time of the attack, drove a U-Haul box truck into a security barrier near Lafayette Square, north of the White House, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY.

The crash happened back in May 2023, when Kandula drove onto a sidewalk and nearly struck two pedestrians before crashing. Prosecutors said that once Kandula crashed, he retrieved a Nazi flag from his backpack.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich also ordered Kandula to pay $57,000 in restitution at the sentencing hearing on Thursday stemming from his conviction of depredation of U.S. property.

Kandula’s attorney, Scott Rosenblum, had been arguing for a lower prison sentence for his client, who faced up to 10 years in prison.

“We were hoping for a further departure from the guidelines and statutory maximum given his mental health issues,” Rosenblum told USA TODAY on Tuesday.

Here’s what you need to know about the case, including Rosenblum’s mental health issues.

Kandula’s deep fascination with Nazi history likely inspired the attack in 2023, according to prosecutors.

Kandula told police he brought the flag because “Nazis have a great history” and he admired their “authoritarian nature, eugenics and their one world order,” according to court documents.

He wanted to “get to the White House, seize power and be put in charge of the nation,” according to charging documents. He also said he would “kill the president, if that’s what I have to do,” documents say.

Prosecutors said Kandula flew from St. Louis, Missouri to the capital only hours before the incident. Once he arrived in Washington D.C., he rented the U-Haul truck and drove to the area near the White House.

Court records also say that Kandula had planned the attack for weeks, as he tried to gain access to vehicles larger than a U-Haul truck, as well as “armed guards and an armored convoy from a security company located in Virginia.”

Rosenblum said in a court filing that Kandula was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the attack. Rosenblum said Kandula had “phantasmic ideas” that swirled in his head.

According to the filing, Kandula believed a reptilian race had installed a puppet regime to control the United States.

Rosenblum said in the filing that two psychologists went on to diagnose Kandula with schizophrenia and that both believe that the illness contributed to the crash.

Contributing: Christine Fernando – USA TODAY

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.