Another day and another example of the escalating violence against Tesla vehicles and their owners was reported in Texas.
A Texarkana man was arrested after he allegedly drove his 4-wheeler into parked Teslas, as seen in surveillance footage, KTBS reported. Demarqeyun Cox, 33, is facing felony charges after he allegedly rammed into the parked vehicle in the Golden Palace restaurant parking lot. The car’s surveillance caught the 5-foot-2, 449-pound suspect in the act, alerting the owner, Virita Carstaffin, who was inside the restaurant eating lunch.
Cox drove into the red Tesla “at full speed,” according to KTBS, which reported that the car’s owner expects it will cost her more than $1,000 to replace the front door.
But Cox was evidently not done as the Texarkana Police Department said another parked Tesla was damaged at a nearby Lowe’s. When the suspect was stopped a mile away from the crime, he reportedly provided police with a false name.
“They approached him. He gave a fake name, which they quickly determined who he was. Based on what they had seen in the video they knew for a fact that he was the one who at least hit the initial Tesla,” Texarkana Police Public Information Officer Shawn Vaughn told KTBS.
After Cox was arrested, a third damaged Tesla was reported at Genesis Prime Care on College Drive.
“Authorities say he used a sharp object to carve the name ‘Elon’ on the side of those vehicles,” the outlet reported, in what is likely a reference to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Cox is being held on a bond of $105,000 and has been charged with felony criminal mischief and failure to identify.
The latest report comes amid several crimes, such as setting fire to electric vehicles at dealerships. Adam Matthew Lansky of Oregon, Lucy Grace Nelson of Colorado and Daniel Clarke-Pounder in South Carolina were arrested in connection with the crimes and face up to 20 years in prison after US Attorney General Pam Bondi charged them with “domestic terrorism.”
