On Wednesday, January 11, a video was recorded of a pipe-wielding Tesla driver smashing cars in a California road rage incident. CBS reported that Los Angeles authorities believe the suspect may be behind several similar incidents across the city.
In footage of the latest attack, the masked driver can be seen parking his Tesla in the middle of the freeway before approaching a vehicle and smashing its windows. The suspect's vehicle appears to have no license plates.
As per the New York Post, he has been linked to at least three other road rage incidents.
Drivers respond to the California road rage suspect
In interviews with KTLA, a victim of the the California road rage suspect spoke out against him.
The victim, who remained anonymous, described their thought process as the suspect approached their car. They said that the situation was so alarming, they considered running him over.
“Initially you think, ‘Should I pin him to the wall with my car?’ ‘Should I run him down?’ ‘What should I do? And I tried to stay focused and think, ‘I don’t want to go from victim to criminal in an instant.’”
The victim said that they then decided to record the situation instead and said:
“He gets back to his car and he notices that I’m taping him, so he follows me. At some point, he cuts me off, slams the brakes and starts beating on my car.”
The victim proceeded to speculate about what may have driven the suspect to damage people's vehicles in separate incidents.
“Maybe it’s a pattern, maybe he was just having a bad day, I don’t know. Who can say what was going on in his head? I think it should be important for all of us, for this guy to get off the streets. We can’t have people going around banging on people’s cars. That’s not the society I want to live in.”
Another victim, who allegedly encountered the same suspect in December, described her experience with him. The California woman told ABC7 reporters:
"I ended up leaving and at the red light he comes after me, still he comes after me and follows me out."
Another woman told Eyewitness news:
"All I did was, because he was taking forever to merge, so I just honked. I honestly did feel like he was either gonna break my windows or pull me out."
She added that the damage her vehicle sustained will be extremely expensive to repair.
"This is my only vehicle. It took a long time to buy a new car, and a few years ago I bought a new car that was economical for me and I don't know what I'm gonna do. It's scary."
The California Highway Patrol is currently investigating the string of attacks.