Authorities say the man was arrested, charged with assault, and accused of driving a car by a crowd of people who were protesting outside a Tesla dealer in Florida and avoiding him.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said lawmakers went to a planned protest at a West Palm Beach dealer on Saturday. There were no injuries.
“Protesters had to keep themselves out of the way to avoid being hit by the vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Court records show that Deutil, held at the Palm Beach County Jail, was charged with an attack that was aggravated with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. It is not clear whether he has an attorney or whether he will appear in court.
On his Facebook account, Dutil appeared to be sharing content supporting President Donald Trump. This features a video depicting Trump and Vice President JD Vance in a parody video of “The Dukes of Hazzard” as “The Dukes of Maga.”
He also shares a considerable amount of veteran content and wears military uniforms on his profile photos.
In 2022, Dutil appeared to be sharing a post criticizing electric vehicles. “If you’re screwing an electric vehicle, if you drive one, you’re welcome to 1995 with the car technology. It will require more electricity for an electric vehicle.”
The Palm Beach post reported that Deutil was driving a black Nissan SUV and that the crowd had numbers over 100.
“He ran into the crowd of seniors. Everyone could move, but the two older women were really almost cut off. We called out the police immediately.
Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The protest has been one of several across the country in recent weeks to oppose Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s politics and actions in government efficiency. Since January, Doge has cut government costs and fired thousands of federal workers.
While some Republicans support his extreme methods, politicians and supporters on both parties have warned about the consequences of reshaping the nation in such a quick and tough way.
Democratically progressive Caucaspam Beach County is scheduled to protest at the same West Palm Beach dealer every Saturday for a foreseeable future.
“Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he uses the wealth he built with Tesla to do so,” organizers wrote in a message promoting the demonstration on the activists’ website.
It continued: “We are taking action to stop the illegal Musk coup at Tesla and send an important message to the American people. We will not abandon democracy to the Trump Vance Musk administration to benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin or dictators or oligarchs.”
Many protests are peaceful, but at least 80 cases of vandalism and damage have been reported affecting Tesla vehicles and charging stations. At least 10 dealers have been affected.
The FBI said Friday that protesters were “targeting Tesla vehicles and dealers across the country for arson, shooting and vandalism.” However, law enforcement officials and domestic terrorist experts said there was no evidence that the attacks were coordinated.
The protest has real-world consequences for Tesla. The company’s share price closed at $248.71 on Friday, reaching a 52-week high of $488.54 in December, but the price was higher than most of 2024.
Musk told employees at last week’s Tesla All Hands meeting that better days are still coming. “Sticking to your inventory,” he urged them.
Janhvi Bhojwani and Matteo Moschella contributed.
