Man Arrested, Charged After Vandalizing Multiple Teslas With ATV
A Texas man has been arrested after being caught on video ramming his four-wheel ATV into a number of Teslas in the parking lot of a buffet restaurant.
The bizarre incident occurred on Tuesday at the Golden Palace Chinese buffet in Texarkana, TX, according to KTSB 3. Demarqeyun Marquize Cox, 33, was taken into custody after one of the Teslas he hit recorded the unprovoked tirade. The video shows Cox ramping up his speed before slamming into the door of a Tesla owned by Virita Carstaffin, leaving a visible dent on the vehicle.
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After receiving a notification about the damage from her cell phone, Carstaffin rushed into the parking lot to survey the damage. After checking the vehicle’s cameras, the owner saw a man resembling Cox running a four-wheeled ATV into the side of her Tesla at great speed.
Cox was arrested about an hour later after another Tesla was damaged in the parking lot of a nearby Lowe’s hardware store. Authorities recognized Cox from the Teslas’s video, but when approached he allegedly pretended to be a different person and gave a false name. Following his detainment, a third damaged Tesla was reported in the area. The two other cars reportedly had “ELON” carved crudely into the side, a reference to Tesla founder Elon Musk.
“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 KTSB.
Cox is being held at the Bi-State Justice Center on a $105,000 bond. He’s been charged with felony criminal mischief resulting in damage between $2,500 and $30,000 and failure to identify stemming from the alleged incident with Carstaffin’s Tesla. Authorities are still investigating the other two vandalism cases and added that more charges may be forthcoming.