Sheriff report: Tesla hit with Gatorade bottle in Boca Grande

On May 6, Lt. Mike Sawicki of Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a criminal mischief complaint involving an altercation with a group of young men and a man driving a Tesla at the bridge on Harbor Drive.

The victim was driving his 2023 Tesla Model 3 across the bridge when he passed a group of men in their late teens or early twenties standing near a black car. As he drove by, the men made obscene hand gestures and shouted at the passengers, according to the police report.

The driver decided to return to the bridge and “throw a mostly empty water bottle at them which missed,” according to the report. 

The driver and his passengers returned to the bridge a third time and one of the men, who was described as tall, white and with long dark hair, threw an at least partially full Gatorade bottle at the Tesla, hitting the lower part of the driver’s side door.

Lt. Sawicki observed a small dent, but the victim did not want to press charges and only required a report for insurance.