Post-Obama trip, Secret Service agent found passed out on street corner

A US Secret Service officer was arrested in Miami the day after a visit by President Barack Obama, the agency acknowledged on Friday, in what is likely another black eye for the agency that was embarrassed by a prostitution scandal in April.

The incident is being turned over the Secret Service's Office of Professional Responsibility, its internal affairs unit, said agency spokesman Edwin Donovan.

The Secret Service officer was found passed out on a Miami street corner less than 12 hours after Obama had left the city, according to news reports citing local police.

Officers are uniformed members of the agency, and perform support services, in contrast to plain-clothed agents who directly guard the president and vice president.

Obama spoke at campaign events in Coral Gables and Miami on Thursday.

The episode comes not long after a dozen Secret Service employees were accused of misconduct for bringing women, some of them prostitutes, to their hotel rooms in Colombia in April ahead of Obama's visit to Cartagena.

A government investigation concluded their actions did not compromise the president's safety, but the event was an embarrassment for the Secret Service and its director issued a stricter code of conduct afterwards.

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