A Texas man who previously pleaded guilty to domestic violence is suspected of attacking three Tesla vehicles in a 4-wheeler ramming spree to protest Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Texarkana, Texas police charged 33-year-old Demarqeyun Marquize Cox on Wednesday with allegedly ramming an ATV-style vehicle into a Tesla car and believe he did the same to two others, according to statements from the city’s police department. Cox allegedly wrote “Elon” on the other two vehicles he attacked, reflecting a nationwide trend of protests, arson and vandalism against the Trump administration adviser’s company.
The Texarkana Texas Police Department obtained footage recorded by the Tesla on Tuesday of a man, allegedly Cox, driving a 4-wheeler into the parked vehicle from across a parking lot, lurching him forward in his seat. Police got another report of damage to a Tesla nearby and later spotted Cox riding his ATV near the location of the first reported incident, the department said in a Facebook post.
Cox allegedly gave officers a false identity when being questioned and was arrested — just before police got a third report of Tesla damage linked to Cox. He is charged with one count of felony criminal mischief and failure to identify but may later receive charges for the other attacks.
Bowie County records do not yet list Cox’s case or an attorney to contact.
“Cox is believed to have used some type of sharp object to carve the letters ‘ELON’ into the paint of the other two vehicles that were vandalized subsequent to the ramming incident in the video,” the department told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Cox is in jail on $105,000 bond as of Thursday, the agency said.
County records show Cox pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily injury in a domestic violence case in 2014. A judge gave him deferred probation and dismissed the case in 2015.
President Donald Trump’s FBI has formed a task force in response to widespread attacks on Tesla chargers and vehicles. Perpetrators have caused expensive damages by writing graffiti comparing Musk to Nazis, firebombing and shooting at Tesla property since Trump made Musk the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement March 20.
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