Electric Vehicle Owner Arrested, Charged With Stealing Five Cents Of Electricity

[Francesco 71]

CHAMBLEE, Ga. -- One Saturday in November, Kaveh Kamooneh drove his Nissan Leaf to Chamblee Middle School, where his 11-year-old son was playing tennis.

Kamooneh had taken the liberty of charging the electric car with an exterior outlet at the school. Within minutes of plugging in the car, he says a Chamblee police officer appeared.

"He said that he was going to charge me with theft by taking because I was taking power, electricity from the school," Kamooneh said.

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[MikeT 747]

Lol, love those fossil fuels down there eh?

[Lito 2]

Shocking!

[Leadwing 565]

In one of the video reports, the Leaf owner mentioned that he saw someone in his car. If that person entered the car without permission, couldn't he be charged with trespassing or illegal entry, even if he was a cop. He had no reason to be "in" the car.

[turbomar 13]

How would you feel if an EV parked in front of your house and took his extension cord out and plugged into your house 110v outlet while he walked his dog in the park?

[ianjay 6]

Leaf owner. Range anxiety shut his brain off. Like so much of the south, Georgia is not a place to mess with the locals.

[FlossyTheSmart 81]

How would you feel if an EV parked in front of your house and took his extension cord out and plugged into your house 110v outlet while he walked his dog in the park?

Yeah, I don't think this is entirely wrong. The guy shouldn't have plugged it in where he didn't have permission, despite the low cost of electricity. Arrest was probably a bit much though, this is the kind of thing where a fine would be more appropriate.

[yyzboyz 0]

+1 Flossy

[Lito 2]

Just to be clean... I was just punning. I am on board with the last 4 comments.

[jwight 117]

FWIW, he was at a public school, which his taxes pay for, including its electricity use. IMHO he was just getting his nickel's worth.

[FlossyTheSmart 81]

It's not usually in a school board's budget to provide free charging for electric cars though, especially given that US public schools are usually pretty strapped for cash from my understanding.

[scwmcan 0]

I agree he should have been fined, or ticketed in some way, an attest seems extreme. I also have to wonder why the outlet is even powered when not in use, it should be switched at the very least to ensure things like this don't happen ( I a pretty sure that like water taps on commercial and public buildings most exterior outlets at businesses and public buildings are not easily accessed, and if they are they shouldn't be). There does seem to be more to the story, but the arrest still seems extreme. I also had the thought that the officer admitted to getting in the car and going through it to determine who owned it ( huh? Isn't that what license plates are for) so didn't he at the minimum do an illegal search, if not " breaking and entry" ?

[MikeT 747]

That ain't how things is done in Georgia!

[KurtMan 2]

Possible lawsuit for a fourth amendment violation. Better call Saul!!!

[Ruadh 0]

This guy was being a dick right from the get-go.

I don't blame the cops for reacting as they did.

They've had trouble with him in the past, apparently.

Quote "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." End Quote

Yeah, I don't think this is entirely wrong. The guy shouldn't have plugged it in where he didn't have permission, despite the low cost of electricity. Arrest was probably a bit much though, this is the kind of thing where a fine would be more appropriate.

Edited December 6, 2013 by Ruadh

[marchanna 115]

It sounds quite likely that this guy may have had a history, and this was a prime opportunity to send him a message.

[Francesco 71]

Maybe so, but quid pro quo doesn't apply here. You don't arrest and detain someone for 15 hours in a cell for "misdemeanour theft by taking" in order to "send him a message" for unrelated past events, and what is unclear in this case is why the officer on scene felt compelled to enter the vehicle even after ascertaining the owner's identity.

[ishkabibble 2]

Makes you wonder if some law enforcement officials have too much time on their hands. Maybe a scarcity of criminals in Georgia????Ish.

[MikeT 747]

Naw, the criminals is all good ole boys, unlike the perp.

[KurtMan 2]

CNN has picked up the story now.

[Duck 16]

No different than plugging in your laptop or mobile phone or anything to charge it. Absolutely 100% the same. Are they going to crack down on that?Publicly accessible outlets should be treated (in my mind) like water fountains; they only give out power at a certain rate... and whoever makes those outlets accessible should expect that there will be draws/losses at every one that is out there.So dumb.-Iain

[MikeT 747]

I agree.

[jwight 117]

Justice served - all charges dropped.

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/12/23/charg...kusaolp00000588