An Arizona woman driving a Tesla was cut off – and then allegedly attacked – by a fellow motorist during a caught-on-camera confrontation as the Elon Musk-led car company continues to be the target of vandalism and violence.
The woman, 61, was allegedly assaulted by a man along Route 66 in Flagstaff earlier this month after the assailant used his green car to box her Tesla in, according to footage obtained by Arizona Family.
The male driver got out of his car and was then seen on video appearing to hit the woman while she was still behind the wheel of her Tesla.
“I started to say, ‘You cut me off, what’s your problem?’, but I didn’t know how much he heard me,” the woman, who did not want to be identified, told the station Friday. “He got out and started to punch me with a closed fist.”
A passenger in the suspect’s car eventually stepped out of the green car to pull the man away, video shows.
While the motive of the suspect, who was reportedly tracked down by Flagstaff police, was unclear, it’s one of a series of criminal acts that Tesla owners and dealerships have dealt with in recent weeks.
The electric car company has faced the ire of vandals and brutes in apparent protest of Musk working in President Trump’s administration.
Protesters have staged demonstrations bashing DOGE head Musk outside of Tesla dealerships across the nation in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the Arizona woman made clear her Tesla has nothing to do with Trump or his allies.
“I’m just appalled,” she told the station.
“I didn’t buy my car for a political statement. I bought my car because it’s really fun to drive.”
“My politics have nothing to do with that. I’m ashamed of our society and what they are doing.”
The suspect was not identified by the station in its report. An email to Flagstaff police was not immediately returned Sunday night.
Rep. Abe Hamadeh (Arizona-R) condemned the ugly incident.
“Unable to come to terms with their historic loss in November, & spurred on by the incendiary anti-Elon rhetoric of the leaders of their party, the radical left has resorted to violence,” he said in a statement.
“This needs to stop before more people are hurt.”
Another Tesla owner told the Arizona Family she found a nasty note on her car in a grocery parking lot recently.
“When she’s a Nazi and loser! XOXO,” the note read.
“It’s wrong, and it’s deplorable,” that woman told the station. “I think they are just hating people and not really hurting a company or Tesla.”
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