Leaf Driver Arrested In Ga. For Taking 5 Cents Of Electricity
Atlanta
has become one of the hottest markets for plug-in vehicles,
particularly for Nissan, but electric car owners had better take care
before assuming everyone just gets it.
Case in point: Last week, a man was arrested after plugging his
Nissan Leaf into a local school’s 110-volt outlet and taking about 5
cents worth of electricity as he waited for his 11-year-old son to
finish a tennis game.
It was a Saturday afternoon at Chamblee Middle School and a parenting
scene like many others, but 20-minutes after Kaveh Kamooneh thought to
slow-charge his Leaf while waiting, a cop showed up.
“He said that he was going to charge me with theft by taking because I
was taking power, electricity from the school,” Kamooneh said.
A week later the police pressed the case further, appeared at the man’s door, and hauled him off and held him in a jail cell.
“I’m not sure how much electricity he stole,” said Chamblee police
Sergeant Ernesto Ford, but, “He broke the law. He stole something that
wasn’t his.”
Just remember that next time if you think to take a free taste at a
food bar without permission, or snag a grape at a grocery store, or
swipe a drink from someone’s water outlet.
The dilemma has sparked controversy as EV owners put themselves out
adopting cars their government wants to proliferate in a world of
comparatively scant infrastructure.
In this case, the man took from a government-funded institution which
is not a little ironic. On one hand Georgia authorities are
incentivizing EVs by far more than a few cents to make their citizens
want to buy them. Did the police not get the memo to chill out?
Or, is this a case of a scofflaw getting his proper come-uppance for presuming to take without asking?
We received a 911 call advising that someone was plugged into the power outlet behind the middle school. The responding officer located the vehicle in the rear of the building at the kitchen loading dock up against the wall with a cord run to an outlet. The officer spent some time trying to determine whose vehicle it was. It was unlocked and he eventually began looking through the interior after verifying it did not belong to the school system.
The officer, his marked patrol vehicle and the electric vehicle were
all in clear view of the tennis courts. Eventually, a man on the courts
told the officer that the man playing tennis with him owned the vehicle.
The officer went to the courts and interviewed the vehicle owner. The
officer’s initial incident report gives a good indication of how
difficult and argumentative the individual was to deal with. He made no
attempt to apologize or simply say oops and he wouldn’t do it again.
Instead he continued being argumentative, acknowledged he did not have
permission and then accused the officer of having damaged his car door.
The officer told him that was not true and that the vehicle and existing
damage was already on his vehicles video camera from when he drove up.
Given the uncooperative attitude and accusations of damage to his
vehicle, the officer chose to document the incident on an incident
report. The report was listed as misdemeanor theft by taking. The
officer had no way of knowing how much power had been consumed, how much
it cost nor how long it had been charging.
The report made its way to Sgt Ford’s desk for a follow up
investigation. He contacted the middle school and inquired of several
administrative personnel whether the individual had permission to use
power. He was advised no. Sgt. Ford showed a photo to the school
resource officer who recognized Mr. Kamooneh. Sgt Ford was further
advised that Mr. Kamooneh had previously been advised he was not allowed
on the school tennis courts without permission from the school . This
was apparently due to his interfering with the use of the tennis courts
previously during school hours.
Based upon the totality of these circumstances and without any expert
advice on the amount of electricity that may have been used, Sgt Ford
signed a theft warrant. The warrant was turned over to the DeKalb
Sheriffs Dept for service because the individual lived in Decatur, not
Chamblee. This is why he was arrested at a later time.
I am sure that Sgt. Ford was feeling defensive when he said a theft
is a theft and he would do it again. Ultimately, Sgt. Ford did make the
decision to pursue the theft charges, but the decision was based on Mr.
Kamooneh having been advised that he was not allowed on the property
without permission. Had he complied with that notice none of this would
have occurred. Mr. Kamooneh’s son is not a student at the middle school
and he was not the one playing tennis. Mr. Kamooneh was taking lessons
himself.