Latest news with #DemocraticProgressiveCaucus
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Florida Man Arrested for Driving SUV Into Crowd of Anti-Tesla Protesters
A Trump-supporting Florida man has been arrested for driving his SUV into a crowd of protesters outside a Tesla dealership in Palm Beach County over the weekend, police have confirmed. Driver Andrew Dutil was charged with aggravated assault following the incident, which saw him mount his black Nissan Pathfinder onto the sidewalk and slowly advance towards the protesters, forcing them to disperse. 'He drove into a crowd of senior citizens,' said Mark Offerman, head of the Democratic Progressive Caucus for Palm Beach County who organized the event. 'Everybody was able to move out, but two older women were really almost clipped,' he told the Palm Beach Post. 'We immediately called the cops.' Dutil reportedly claimed at the scene that he worked at the dealership in question, but is in fact thought be an Army engineer and former Iraq War vet who has written about his love of Donald Trump. He arrived at the scene at around 1 p.m. to find around 150 people gathered to protest Tesla CEO Elon Musk's cost-cutting measures with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The peaceful protest, organized by the local Democratic Progressive Caucus, saw demonstrators wield signs which read 'Shame' and 'Musk is a rat' to largely supportive onlookers. Following Dutil's action, police towed his car and interviewed around five people on the scene. The rest of the demonstration appeared to pass without incident. The protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations which have seen Tesla showrooms, charging stations, and individual vehicles targeted as part of a pushback against the Trump administration. At least nine incidents have been reported in recent weeks, which include a Tesla showroom in Las Vegas set ablaze with the word 'resist' daubed across the building's front doors in red paint, and four Cybertrucks in Seattle attacked with Molotov cocktails. To date nobody on either side of the protests has been harmed, although Musk and other Trump allies have condemned the attacks on Tesla as 'domestic terrorism'—a charge the FBI is aware of but refuses to endorse. 'Was this terrorism? Was it something else? It certainly has some of the hallmarks that we might think — the writing on the wall, potential political agenda, an act of violence,' said FBI agent Spencer Evans following the Vegas attack. 'None of those factors are lost on us.' Last week the FBI released a public service announcement warning the public to be vigilant and to be on the lookout for suspicious activity at Tesla dealerships, citing concerns over arson, gunfire, and vandalism. 'Since January 2025, incidents targeting Tesla EVs have occurred in at least nine states,' the statement read. 'These incidents have involved arson, gunfire, and vandalism, including graffiti expressing grievances against those the perpetrators perceive to be racists, fascists, or political opponents. These criminal actions appear to have been conducted by lone offenders, and all known incidents occurred at night.' 'Individuals require little planning to use rudimentary tactics, such as improvised incendiary devices and firearms, and may perceive these attacks as victimless property crimes,' they added. During Trump's first term properties owned by the president became focal points for protesters; a role experts believe is now being filled by Tesla. 'Tesla is an easy target,' Randy Blazak, a sociologist who studies political violence, told AP News. 'They're rolling down our streets. They have dealerships in our neighborhoods.' 'We're outraged and we're appalled,' Offerman told the Palm Beach Post. 'What we hope to do here in Palm Beach County, where the nerve center of the GOP is, is wake everybody up to this fact. 'Mar-a-Lago is here. Trump is here. This is his home. We have big problems with the way that our government functions, and find it very anti-American. So we want to wake people up, and we're taking on this national call.'
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Man charged with assault at Tesla dealership after driving car at protesters
A man was arrested and charged with assault for driving his car towards a crowd of people protesting outside a Florida Tesla dealership and narrowly avoiding them, authorities said. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said deputies went to a planned protest at a West Palm Beach dealership on Saturday, where suspect Andrew Dutil drove onto the curb and slowly toward the protesters. There were no injuries. "The protestors had to move out of the way in order to avoid being struck by the vehicle," the sheriff's office said in a statement. Court records show Dutil, who is being held in Palm Beach County Jail, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. It is not clear if he has retained a lawyer or when he is due to appear in court. The Palm Beach Post reported that Dutil was driving a black Nissan SUV and that the crowd numbered more than 100. "He drove into a crowd of senior citizens. Everybody was able to move out, but two older women were really almost clipped. We immediately called the cops," Mark Offerman, from the Democratic Progressive Caucus Palm Beach County, which organized the protest, told the newspaper. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The protest was one of several across the country in recent weeks to show opposition to Tesla founder Elon Musk's politics and actions at the Department of Government Efficiency. Since January, DOGE has slashed government costs and fired thousands of federal workers. While some Republicans have cheered on his extreme methods, politicians and supporters of both parties have warned of the consequences of remaking the state in such a rapid, hardline way. The Democratic Progressive Caucus Palm Beach County is planning to protest at the same West Palm Beach dealership every Saturday for the foreseeable future. "Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he's using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it," the organizers wrote in a message advertising the demonstrations on an activist website. It continued: "We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk's illegal coup AND send a vital message to the American People: we will not surrender democracy to the Trump-Vance-Musk regime to benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin or any dictator or oligarch." While many protests are peaceful, there have been at least 80 reported cases of vandalism and damage effecting Tesla vehicles and charging stations, including cars being and charging stations damaged. At least 10 dealerships have been affected. The FBI said Friday that protesters were targeting Tesla vehicles and dealerships across the country "with arson, gunfire, and vandalism." But law enforcement officials and domestic terrorism said there was no evidence of coordination of the attacks. The protests are having real-world consequences for Tesla. The company's stock price closed at $248.71 on Friday, having reached a 52-week high of $488.54 in December, although the price is higher than it was for much of 2024. Musk spoke at a Tesla all-hands meeting last week and told his employees there are better days ahead. "Hang on to your stock," he urged his staff. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
1 arrested after police say he drove car into Florida Tesla protest crowd. What we know
A Trump supporter was arrested on Saturday after an SUV drove into a crowd protesting megabillionaire Elon Tusk, his role in President Donald Trump's administration and their moves to drastically slash the federal government. No one was injured. Andrew Tutil, 44, of West Palm Beach, was arrested and charged with first-degree felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent, according to Palm Beach County records. Here's what we know: Tutil, 44. is a retired U.S. Army captain and civil engineer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Palm Beach Gardens, according to a bio page at A group of around 150 protestors were lined up outside the West Palm Beach Tesla dealership around 1 p.m. Saturday when a black Nissan Pathfinder SUV drove slowly into the crowd. "He drove into a crowd of senior citizens," said Mark Offerman of the Democratic Progressive Caucus Palm Beach County about the driver. "Everybody was able to move out, but two older women were really almost clipped. We immediately called the cops." Tutil parked on the sidewalk where protestors were standing and jumped out, saying his brakes and electronics had gone out, and he claimed to be a West Palm Beach Tesla employee, Offerman said. Police questioned Tutil and witnesses, viewed photo and video evidence, and arrested him. The protest was one of many held nationwide in the last few weeks to raise voices against Musk, his unelected insertion into the federal government and his efforts to slash government programs and fire tens of thousands of federal employees in what he calls an effort to reduce waste and inefficiency. Some protests are part of an organized movement called "Tesla Takedown." In recent weeks there have been Florida protests in Gainesville, Sarasota, Jacksonville, and Merrit Island. The protests aren't against electric vehicles. "We are anti-Elon Musk," actor and filmmaker Alex Winter told InsideEVs in February as the protests were picking up speed globally. "The mission is to decouple Musk from Tesla, because he is a toxic figurehead for that company." Much of Musk's massive wealth is based on his stake in Tesla, Winter said. Americans angry at the Trump administration's sweeping changes who see no other way to make their voices heard have made Teslas and Tesla Cybertrucks a visible symbol to protest. "I think it's the hypocrisy of it," Winter said. "This idea that these guys, who have built their wealth off of government subsidies and government handouts, are accusing hard-working, low-income people of being parasites. It makes people just staggeringly angry." Saturday's protest in West Palm Beach, organized by the Democratic Progressive Caucus, was one of six planned for every Saturday through April 26. "Mar-a-Lago is here. Trump is here. This is his home," said Offerman. "We have big problems with the way that our government functions, and find it very anti-American. So we want to wake people up, and we're taking on this national call." While the vast majority of the Tesla protests have been peaceful, there has also been a rise in people vandalizing Teslas and Cybertrucks, painting offensive messages or causing damage. In Fort Lauderdale, 34 new Cybertrucks in a parking lot were damaged and tagged with the message "(expletive) Elon, WPLG reported. More Cybertrucks were vandalized at a Colorado dealership, and last week Las Vegas police said Molotov cocktails and a gun were used to destroy Tesla cars during a 'targeted attack' at a Tesla Collision Center. Since Musk has become the face of the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) onslaught on federal budgets and workforce — seemingly in arbitrary and counterproductive ways — shares in Tesla stock have plummeted more than 50% since its 52-week high in late December. It isn't helping that Tesla's much-hyped Cyerbtrucks continue to underperform with regular revelations of problems in construction and performance. Last week the company recalled 46,000 Cybertrucks to fix an exterior panel that can come loose while driving, the eighth recall for the model since January 2024. In response, Trump staged a photo opp earlier this month to defend Musk, a staunch ally who contributed more than a quarter-million dollars to campaign committees supporting his re-election. The two men appeared with several Tesla models at the White House as Trump praised the cars, announced he was buying one, and said that anyone committing violence to Tesla owners and dealerships should be labeled as "domestic terrorists." "People that get caught sabotaging Teslas will stand a very good chance of going to jail for up to twenty years, and that includes the funders," Trump said Thursday in a post to his social media site. "WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!!!" Within days, former Florida Attorney General and current U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi made the terrorism charge official and said that three people arrested for violent destruction of Tesla properties would be charged with the "full force of the law." '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,' she said last week in a release. Neither Trump nor Bondi have addressed violence toward Tesla protestors. Jasmine Fernández, Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post contributed to this story. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tesla protest arrested in Florida accuses man of driving into crowd
NBC News
24-03-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Man charged with assault at Tesla dealership after driving car at protesters
A man was arrested and charged with assault for driving his car towards a crowd of people protesting outside a Florida Tesla dealership and narrowly avoiding them, authorities said. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said deputies went to a planned protest at a West Palm Beach dealership on Saturday, where suspect Andrew Dutil drove onto the curb and slowly toward the protesters. There were no injuries. "The protestors had to move out of the way in order to avoid being struck by the vehicle," the sheriff's office said in a statement. Court records show Dutil, who is being held in Palm Beach County Jail, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. It is not clear if he has retained a lawyer or when he is due to appear in court. The Palm Beach Post reported that Dutil was driving a black Nissan SUV and that the crowd numbered more than 100. "He drove into a crowd of senior citizens. Everybody was able to move out, but two older women were really almost clipped. We immediately called the cops," Mark Offerman, from the Democratic Progressive Caucus Palm Beach County, which organized the protest, told the newspaper. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The protest was one of several across the country in recent weeks to show opposition to Tesla founder Elon Musk's politics and actions at the Department of Government Efficiency. Since January, DOGE has slashed government costs and fired thousands of federal workers. While some Republicans have cheered on his extreme methods, politicians and supporters of both parties have warned of the consequences of remaking the state in such a rapid, hardline way. The Democratic Progressive Caucus Palm Beach County is planning to protest at the same West Palm Beach dealership every Saturday for the foreseeable future. "Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he's using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it," the organizers wrote in a message advertising the demonstrations on an activist website. It continued: "We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk's illegal coup AND send a vital message to the American People: we will not surrender democracy to the Trump-Vance-Musk regime to benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin or any dictator or oligarch." While many protests are peaceful, there have been at least 80 reported cases of vandalism and damage effecting Tesla vehicles and charging stations, including cars being and charging stations damaged. At least 10 dealerships have been affected. The FBI said Friday that protesters were targeting Tesla vehicles and dealerships across the country "with arson, gunfire, and vandalism." But law enforcement officials and domestic terrorism said there was no evidence of coordination of the attacks. The protests are having real-world consequences for Tesla. The company's stock price closed at $248.71 on Friday, having reached a 52-week high of $488.54 in December, although the price is higher than it was for much of 2024. Musk spoke at a Tesla all-hands meeting last week and told his employees there are better days ahead. "Hang on to your stock," he urged his staff.
