The Watertown Police Department is investigating an incident that unfolded at a protest at a Tesla Service Center involving two individuals being injured when a driver of a “black pickup truck” struck them.
According to a press release, police said “the side mirror” of the moving vehicle struck the two individuals during the protest.
“Officers who were already on the scene quickly assisted the injured parties and identified the suspect,” police said. “Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported, and both victims refused medical treatment at the scene.”
Police did not provide further information.
Roughly 100 people gathered at the Tesla Service Center in the Boston suburb to rally against company CEO Elon Musk as protests continue to build across the Bay State and nation.
Nationwide activism
Saturday’s protest in Watertown fell in line with a so-called “Tesla Takedown’s Global Day of Action,” with rallies happening at at least nine other locations in Massachusetts and hundreds more across the country and world, according to an event map.
“Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it,” the protesting organization, Tesla Takedown, states on a website dedicated to its efforts. “We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup.”
Protesters are calling for people who own Teslas to sell their electric vehicles and to “join the picket lines,” as they say that will go a long way in “tanking Tesla’s stock price to stop Musk.”
“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” the organization states. “No one is coming to save us. Not politicians, not the media, not the courts.”
“Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement,” it adds. “We oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly.
Other Bay State-based protests occurred Saturday at the Prudential Center in Boston and locations in Natick, Dedham, Norwell, Auburn, Peabody, Springfield and Hadley.
Incidents and warnings
The Boston Police Department issued a community alert Saturday morning, “seeking the public’s assistance” in identifying an individual “who is believed to be connected to multiple incidents of vandalism and harassment” targeting Tesla vehicles in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood.
Authorities did not disclose the number of incidents or their nature, but they added that they reportedly unfolded “in the area of Hemenway Street and Gainsborough Street.”
“The Boston Police Department is actively reviewing the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident,” the alert states.
The protests, along with increased vandalism and violence, follow President Trump’s inauguration and the elevation of Musk to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency, which has announced a series of cuts at a slew of federal agencies
The parade of destruction, including some Tesla vehicles and dealerships being torched, across the nation prompted an alert from the FBI last weekend.
Residents across the country have been advised to “exercise vigilance” and to stay on the “look out for suspicious activity” when in proximity to a Tesla dealership or “Tesla-related entities.”
Potential “threat activity” includes violent online threats made against “specific Tesla properties,” criminal actors inquiring about or attempting to examine security at Tesla properties or taking video or photos there, any “unusual surveillance or interest in Tesla-related entities,” and attempts to gain unauthorized access to Tesla facilities, the FBI said.
“These incidents have involved arson, gunfire, and vandalism, including graffiti expressing grievances against those the perpetrators perceive to be racists, fascists, or political opponents,” the bureau wrote.
Massachusetts is among at least nine states that have seen incidents targeting Tesla EVs, according to the bureau.
A Roslindale man, Harrison Grant Randall, 39, was arrested earlier this month and charged with tagging Teslas in Brookline with anti-Elon Musk stickers.
Randall’s arrest came after Brookline Police posted a video of the suspect accused of tagging Teslas with Musk stickers. The man riding his bike in the Brookline Village area at the time claimed he had the right to deface others’ property based on “free speech.”
“It’s my free speech,” the man who had a Palestinian flag on his bike told one of the victims who confronted him.
Other incidents in Massachusetts include a Tesla charging station in Littleton allegedly set ablaze earlier this month. In February, a Tesla charging lot in Tyngsboro was tagged with chalk swastikas.
A Lowell man also this month told city police that he was shot at while driving his Tesla.
“It’s a huge problem,” the man told NBC10.
