A self-proclaimed Trump supporter was arrested at a Tesla protest in California after he tried to use a taser against peaceful protestors.
The ‘Tesla Takedown’ movement to organize peaceful protests against Elon Musk at Tesla stores across the US has been ramping up in recent weeks.
On Saturday, there was a significant protest at Tesla’s store in Berkeley, where protestors have frequently demonstrated over the last month.
Rick Fuze, 33, of Berkeley, who owns an e-bike repair shop, has been known to show up to counter-protest at the location over the last few weeks, according to a report from local news site Berkeley Side.
He did it again this Saturday and got into a confrontation with a couple of Tesla protestors. It escalated when Fuze pulled out a taser gun and fired it in the direction of the two protestors.
Fuze was quickly arrested by police officers who were already on the scene monitoring the large protest.
He claimed that he used the taser in self-defense because someone pulled his hair, but someone caught the entire interaction on video, and it’s clear that a woman pulled on his hair to get him off his bike after Fuze had already fired the taser twice and tried to escape:
This is the latest in a series of examples of both sides going too far amid the politicization of Tesla.
As we previously reported, while most demonstrations against Elon Musk at Tesla are peaceful protests, there have been several instances of vandalism against Tesla properties.
On the other hand, we also saw a truck driver rolling coal on Tesla protestors at another location last week.
Electrek’s Take
This is getting insane. It’s simple: violence and vandalism are bad, and peaceful protests are good and protected under the US Constitution.
I wonder when this will end.
Tesla protests are supposedly ramping up in the next week. I wonder if Tesla reports terrible deliveries next week, which is partly because of demand issues and partly because of Model Y changeover, they are going to claim victory and stop or this is going to continue until Musk is out of Tesla.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.