Tesla vandal admits to keying Model 3 when confronted with Sentry Mode video

Tesla’s Sentry Mode is proving to be better than a lie detector after a vandal admitted to keying a Model 3 when he was told about a Sentry Mode video of the incident.

In recent weeks, we reported on several instances of Tesla owners posting videos of vandals damaging their vehicles.

Several of the videos, which have been captured using Tesla’s Sentry Mode, went viral and convinced the vandals to turn themselves in.

In a new case, the vandal didn’t turn himself in, but the Sentry Mode video served as a good lie detector.

Justice Frimpong, a Model 3 owner in the Bay Area, reported that his Tesla was keyed by an unknown man and the entire incident was caught by Tesla’s Sentry Mode system:

Sentry mode is 😍 @elonmusk
But still smh pic.twitter.com/hUYQiPTSLK

— Justice (@SticeJF) October 22, 2019

Frimpong gave the videos to the police and he said that they were able to find him.

However, he denied being there until being confronted with the Sentry Mode video:

With that, they were able to find him, and at first, he couldn’t remember being there (ofc lmao), but when the cops told him they had the footage, it suddenly jogged his memory. He then confessed and “apologized”.

The Model 3 owner said that he got the vandal’s information, which he communicated to his insurance, and he is now being told that the vandal is going to pay for the damages.

While deep scratches can run into the thousands in damages, it looks like the vandal got off easy in this case.

In previous instances of people being caught by Sentry Mode vandalizing Tesla vehicles, we have seen vandals being charged charge with “Criminal Mischief”.

While Tesla Sentry Mode is useful to capture those incidents and pressure the vandals, the hope is that the feature gets publicized enough that people become less inclined to vandalize Tesla vehicles in the first place.