'The Car Records Everything': Tesla Cameras Record Vandals In The Act
DENVER (CBS4)- A 30-year-old Denver woman waited two months for her new Tesla model Y to arrive. But over Labor Day weekend, roughly two weeks after she took delivery of the electric car, two men vandalized the SUV, "keying" the driver's side of the car.
"Fortunately the car records everything," said the woman, who requested her name not be used.
The car is equipped with motion-sensing cameras that record nearby activity when the vehicle is parked.
Those cameras now show two men briskly walking past the driver's side of the car, each gouging the car with a key. The car was parked in a Thornton parking lot on Saturday, Sept. 4, as the woman was shopping. She estimates the damage will cost thousands of dollars to repair.
"I was shocked, my jaw dropped then I was immediately upset," is how the woman described her reaction when she downloaded and watched the video for the first time. "If you are going to do something this reckless and stupid you probably have done other things like this before or are more apt to commit another crime. So I hope we can catch them and prevent more of this in the future."
She said she has no idea who the two men are.
The woman reported the incident to Thornton Police and shared the videos with CBS4. She hopes someone recognizes the men so they can be brought to justice.
If that happens, it would be a repeat of what happened in Broomfield in 2019. A Tesla parked at a high school was "keyed" by a woman and the action was captured by the car's cameras.
The video was broadcast and led to the arrest of Maria Elena Gimeno, 57, who later pled guilty to a felony charge of criminal mischief.
In this new case, the victim is hoping for similar results.
"I don't want this to happen to anyone in the future and I want them to be held accountable," she said.