WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS
Here's Everything We Know About The Tesla Jumping Incident So Far
At approximately 12:10 on Sunday morning, someone jumped a rented 2018 Tesla Model S-BLM about 50-feet into the air, off the corner of Baxter Street and Alvarado Street in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles (a steep hill with a 33 percent grade) and crashed it into a couple of trash cans and two cars, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. Nobody was injured during the incident and the driver abandoned the wrecked Tesla and fled, they added.
Many people were present at the scene recording the stunt, including car influencer Alex Choi, who had hosted a Tesla meetup earlier, and said some "random dude" wanted to show him the location of David Dobrik's infamous Tesla jump, according to Jalopnik.
Choi posted video of the incident, which showed the aftermath of the crash and wrote in the caption that he was not responsible for the incident.
I am glad to say, luckily, nobody was hurt. I was not the one driving. One wrong move, and many people could've been killed. Please, do not try this at home. I had no idea this dude was going jump his Tesla, immediately after I showed up. I do not condone reckless behavior that endangers the lives of others. Everyone is lucky to be alive. Please let this video serve as a learning lesson, and I hope everyone impacted by this receives their form of Justice.
Choi later spoke with CBS2 about how he feared the passengers were badly injured.
Dominykas Zeglaitis AKA Durte Dom, a member of the YouTube group Vlog Squad, had previously claimed responsibility for the stunt, but Choi said he was not present at the crash. The LAPD tweeted that 90 percent of their tips were about Zeglaitis.
We have received over 50 tips and anticipate more due the story going viral. Over 90% of the tips are of the same person who has a TikTok handle of @dominykas or @durtedom on Twitter. He is considered a person of interest based on the public postings on his account.
— LAPDCTD (@LAPDCTD24) March 21, 2022
"Not sure why he's lying to everyone and saying he did...I was there, saw everything and he wasn’t even there," Choi wrote on Instagram, according to NBC News's Kalhan Rosenblatt and Kat Tenbarge.
Zeglaitis later posted a video saying his previous claims that he was the driver was a hoax.
The owner of one of the damaged cars, Jordan Hook, said his vehicle was totaled and started a GoFundMe, which appeared to reach its goal of raising $20,000 on Tuesday. He told the LA TImes about the extent of the damage:
The car won’t start and the steering column is shot, but I won’t know the full extent of damage until I get someone to look at it...I can’t drive it. I don’t know how any of this happened. I mean, I do know, but it’s just been so much to take in
The LAPD has offered a reward of $1,000 for anyone who can identify the alleged perpetrator.
Here's a previous stunt by Dobrik that Choi claimed inspired the incident over the weekend.