If only the police were involved...

As for the rest, all we have is a statement from police, not confirmed facts. Their statement shows a few inconsistencies.

You can see if someone is inside without opening the door, and unless/until you know it is not a school vehicle and that the owner does not have permission to plug in, you do not have evidence of a crime in progress. You can be charged with trespassing even if you were only verbally notified that you are no longer welcome.

Police can do a search for evidence when they have reasonable suspicion of a crime, but that search must be related.

No, but it does mean it makes a lot more sense to issue a citation. It's much cheaper and still makes repeat offenses clearly much more trouble and expense than it's worth for the offender.

Meanwhile, you seem to have a serious desire to live in the Dukes of Hazard. The mere fact that something may not work 100% of the time is hardly a reason to stick with something that definitely doesn't work 100% of the time and sometimes results in the death of bystanders.

My suggestions have the advantage that they will not get anyone killed.

Check your math.

The police said that well after I read TFA for one. It's also just what the police said, but I would be embarrassed to be called out for being that incredibly petty too.

So issue a citation. If he throws that away, then they can take more serious action.

The addendum to the report was added this evening, after this story came out. It is notable though that the claims against him are just that and don't make a lot of sense. Why would the officer search the car to determine the owner when there is a tag right there on the back? Why isn't he up for trespassing if he was told he is no longer welcome on the court? Why are they spending hundreds of dollars over 5 cents?

He was arrested days later. They had plenty of time to figure out that it wasn't worth anything more than issuing a citation or even just a warning.

A Tesla cannot draw 50 amps from a standard wall socket because a standard wall socket will only provide 15. It's illegal to wire it to provide more and it's illegal to affix a 15 amp plug to a device that will draw more than 15 amps. Next step up is a NEMA 5-20 which can provide 20 amps. There is a standard for 30 and 50 amps as well but those are incompatible with a regular plug.

if you draw full load from the outlet continuously for a full month it would cost $132 at residential rates. But clearly he wasn't doing that since he would need to drive home.

As for entering the vehicle to see who the owner was, nonsense. All they had to do was run the tag number.

Go to the owner's residence in the A.M. Impound the car as evidence. Sweat the owner a bit. If it wasn't him driving (or even if it was), he'll likely point to someone else. Interrogate them as well.

If it's stolen, put out a BOLO. Actually look for the car. You know, legwork.

So? If the breaker trips, that's the end of the charging. It's not exactly hard to reset a breaker. I don't know where you got the bizarre idea that the whole town is filled with hardened electricity thieves ready to go at it like Mad Max.

Really, it's just one guy with an electric car that used a whole 5 cents worth of power. They probably waste far more than that daily by not tuning their buses up.

And a fine example of yellow journalism, at that. I read an earlier, more balanced new source that said the truck was a nice cargo truck, one with a crane, and it was stolen at a truck stop. Everybody thinks they wanted the truck and had no idea what it was carrying. The hysterics about terrorism in the summary are unfounded.

And I won't admit any relation to my cunning plan to manufacture refrigerators that open a Cobalt 60 door when the light goes out to keep food from ever going bad!

Yep, and there's enough information in this description to figure out which one, when correlated with a popular website survey tool that shows that they recently underwent a server platform change. But it's one we're not all too fond of here, so I don't pity the fool who enables them. I am, however, aware of how insanely litigious they are, so it's not worth it for me to call out which company is in violation of COPPA.

If this was a very subtle whistleblowing, then hat's off, I suppose.

Yes, and a Federal Judge just ruled this way (that air travel is a constitutional right because it's the common means of travel). 9th Circuit, I think, then remanded to the lower court to proceed. Check the recent Democracy Now! segment on this case for details.

What are your usage and environment patterns like? Your results certainly are much better than average, even among the big data center studies!

I'm not saying they shouldn't tell him that the outlet is NOT for his use. Or even put up a sign to that effect. That done, if someone charges their car from it anyway, charge them the 5 cents plus a $10 administrative fee. I wouldn't be that upset if they sent him that bill instead of the crazy arrest.

It's not like they would have hundreds of people charging though, there aren't that many outside outlets within reach of a parking space.

If the car is going 30, it's not a high speed chase. If it's going faster, it can be spotted as it will be the car weaving in and out of traffic.

If the car is not stolen, park in the owner's driveway. He'll be going home at some point.

The whole world would be better off with a little more slack.