A Texarkana, Texas, man has been arrested after he was caught on camera allegedly driving his ATV into a Tesla and damaging other Teslas i...
A Texarkana, Texas, man has been arrested after he was caught on camera allegedly driving his ATV into a Tesla and damaging other Teslas in the area on Tuesday.
Demarqeyun Marquize Cox, 33, was arrested after he was recognized in a video of a ramming incident recorded by one of the Teslas he allegedly attacked, the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department said on Facebook. Cox is accused of damaging multiple vehicles in separate incidents across the city.
“The first report came from the Golden Palace restaurant on Summerhill Road, where surveillance footage from the car itself captured a guy on a mini four-wheeler intentionally ramming a parked Tesla at full speed. While officers were searching for the suspect, another call came in reporting damage to a Tesla in the Lowe’s parking lot,” the police department said. “Shortly after that, Officer Blake Lummus spotted Cox riding a mini four-wheeler near Summerhill and New Boston Roads and recognized him as the suspect in the earlier video. After being stopped, Cox initially gave a false name but was quickly identified and taken into custody.”
After he was arrested, the police department received another report of a damaged vehicle, which allegedly occurred before Cox was stopped.
“So far, Cox has only been charged with one count of felony Criminal Mischief and Failure to Identify. However, officers are working now to figure out if Cox is responsible for the two later incidents. If they determine he is, additional charges may be filed,” the police department said. “He is currently being held in the Bi-State Jail as the investigation continues.”
Footage of the first incident shows a man believed to be Cox riding a run-down 4-wheeler headfirst into the side of a Tesla before backing up and leaving the scene.
Cox, who is 5-foot-2 and weighs nearly 450 pounds, left visible damage to the driver’s door, the car’s owner, Virita Carstaffin, told KTBS. Carstaffin told the outlet she was inside the Golden Palace restaurant when the attack occurred, and provided a picture of the damage to the outlet, saying she will likely have to spend more than $1,000 to replace the front door.
Shawn Vaughn, Texarkana, Texas Police Department PIO, told KTBS that when Cox was stopped, “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.”
Cox has been charged with felony criminal mischief resulting in damage between $2,500 and $30,000 and failure to identify. He’s being held on a $105,000 bond, the outlet reported.
Tesla owners have been the victims of numerous crimes since President Donald Trump took office, with vandals and arsonists apparently attacking the vehicles because Tesla is owned by Elon Musk, who is helping Trump cut government spending.