Minneapolis police have arrested a suspect for a string of Tesla vandalism incidents that resulted in $20,000 worth of damage.
CBS News reports that according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, officers have taken into custody a man accused of vandalizing six Tesla vehicles in the city. The vandalism spree caused an estimated $20,000 in damages to the high-end electric cars. Police did not name the man or release his picture.
Surveillance footage captured the suspect apparently writing something on the targeted vehicles. Chief O’Hara noted that the combination of the Tesla’s built-in cameras and the prevalence of surveillance in the downtown area where most of the cars were parked made it relatively easy for authorities to identify and apprehend the suspect.
“Downtown certainly there are a lot of cameras and the city does have cameras in a lot of the neighborhoods around the city,” O’Hara explained. “When we do have problems in areas, we often deploy mobile trailers with video. These cases in particular have high quality video right from the vehicle itself.”
While the motive behind the vandalism remains unclear, Chief O’Hara emphasized that the acts appeared to be a protest against Tesla owner Elon Musk and his support of President Donald Trump. However, he stressed that it is the individual car owners who are left to bear the financial burden of repairing the damage caused by the vandal’s actions.
The Minneapolis Police Department encourages any Tesla owners who have had their vehicles vandalized to come forward and file a report. By doing so, authorities can gather more evidence and potentially link additional incidents to the arrested suspect.
Breitbart News previously reported that Tesla vehicles have been the targets of fanatical Trump haters taking out their rage against the President and Elon Musk through criminal acts ranging from vandalism to domestic terrorism, one of Tesla’s high-tech features has been responsible for many of them facing charges for their action. Elon Musk’s Sentry Mode feature has caught video of perpetrators in real time.
Sentry Mode is a system of cameras and sensors that record noise and movement around the vehicle when it is empty and locked, storing the footage on a USB drive in the glove box. This technology has proven to be a powerful tool for Tesla owners, who can use the recorded evidence to identify and report vandals to the authorities.
In one recent incident at the Claremont Resort & Spa parking lot in Oakland, a woman was caught on camera scratching a squiggly line across the mirror and door of a Tesla Cybertruck. The entire act, which lasted about 40 seconds, was captured by the Cybertruck’s cameras and later shared on social media by the vehicle’s owner.
Read more at CBS News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
