Vandalized cars based on political views

Off-Ramp EV
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Someone keyed my dad’s model y in midtown in the middle of the day. No, my dad doesn’t support Elon, he got it years ago and doesn’t want to take a huge loss on it right now. He was considering getting a bumper sticker that says ‘I got this before Elon went crazy’ but it wouldn’t have helped as there’s a video of the guy walking up to the car from the front and he would have never seen it. I personally can’t imagine vandalizing anyone’s property to protest my disdain with anyone but I guess that’s neither here nor there.

I have absolutely no qualms about posting a picture of him on Reddit or trying to use a facial recognition software as he keyed three panels causing thousands in damage. What do you guys think is the best recourse?

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I would hand the footage to the police department, let them deal with him.

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Agreed with post above, report it to the police

You can also print the best screenshot showing his face and put it up around the surrounding areas.

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Post it on X and tag Elon. Let him deal with it :grin:
But seriously, sorry for what happened.

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I definitely thought about it

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Probably the best idea. Don’t know if they’ll actually do anything about it unfortunately

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I would start here. You can always blast social media if police gets you nowhere.

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post on X, tag Elon and Tesla and ask him if he thinks you should have to eat the damage or if Tesla is going to fix it on their dime (just post the damage, not the photo of the person who did it)

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why not post the person as well? curious why you say not to

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I’m sorry that happened to you. It’s unfortunate that people think vandalizing personal property is a rational means of protest…

There are tons of Model Y’s out there, driven largely by people who made rational purchase decisions at the time. Sounds like your dad is one of them.

(There is no advice here… just empathy… I had a car broken into once, and remember just wondering why and what the point was…)

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Someone is making a killing on these Tesla stickers post election.

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Defamation claims, privacy violation, retaliation risk, hindering law enforcement (they might want to use the footage strategically), social media backlash just to name a few

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Thank you for the clarification.

Though I dont believe defamation would apply if there was a video of the crime being committed.

Isnt defamation only for spreading rumors?

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I will be wary of the social media backlash considering how tesla is perceived these days.

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right…

what a time we’re living in

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If the suspect is misidentified or if their face is shown without consent, it could lead to defamation claims or privacy violations.

No need to risk it

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For film footage taken in public? I would love to see the argument from someone claiming an expectation of privacy while vandalizing a vehicle in a public space.

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That’s what my understanding was, even in a state like california.

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I don’t think it would meet the elements of defamation. I’m a brand new lawyer but I see a lot of absolutely ridiculous cases. One recent one where a guy won 25k over a defamation suit because a woman put together a spliced video of a public BOE meeting. Albeit, here he is literally committing a crime, so much different case, and even if it were to get to a jury I doubt they would side with him, but definitely worth a thought and would probably be a last resort

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It’s not about what’s logical or what makes sense, people sue for all kinds of stuff, why risk it?

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