--- title: "Police Arrest Vandal Who Trashed Tesla Supercharger" description: "## Supercharger Vandalism" date: "2019-03-08" modified: "2019-03-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/police-arrest-man-vandalism-tesla-supercharger" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "electric cars" - "supercharger" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Police Arrest Vandal Who Trashed Tesla Supercharger ![]() *\Image: Tesla/Victor Tangermann\* ## Supercharger Vandalism First, pickup truck owners started taking over Supercharger stations in [apparent protest](). Now a vandal has struck one of Tesla's electric vehicles chargers. Last week, a 52 year-old man physically vandalized the charging cable and ports at all the docks of a local St. George, Utah's Tesla Supercharger station, [local news reports]() — the latest skirmish in a simmering culture war about electric vehicles. ## Confession It took local law enforcement less than 24 hours from the start of their investigation to find a suspect named Johnny Doak. [According to *St. George News*](), he had been drinking heavily that night and was "grieving the death of a family member." Doak later confessed to his crime. Whether it was his intention was to vandalize a Tesla Supercharger station in particular is unclear. Police estimate total repair costs to be $8,000. ## ICEing The news comes after pickup drivers in the U.S. were found to park their trucks in unoccupied Tesla Supercharger spots. The trend became known as "ICEing," due to the symbolic weight of vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) blocking access to electric vehicle charging stations. Tesla [developed a clever solution]() to the problem earlier this year by installing metal hurdles that could be lowered using a QR code on the Tesla owner's phone. It's an ominous trend, but incidents have thus far been uncommon. But it goes to show that not everybody is happy about the spread of electric cars — for whatever reason. **READ MORE:** [Tesla Supercharger vandal has been arrested]() \[*Electrek*\] **More on "ICEing":** *[Tesla Found a Clever Way to Prevent Supercharger ICEing]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()