Protester whose flag hit Tesla during a March demonstration arrested, police reports say

Police last month arrested a man suspected of using a flag to hit a Tesla, the brand of electric cars made by controversial billionaire and presidential adviser Elon Musk .

Protests to decry Musk have become more prominent since President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Recent vandalism against Tesla cars has also spurred anger from Republicans – U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, a longtime Trump ally, announced charges in March against three people from Oregon, Colorado and South Carolina for allegedly setting Teslas or their charging ports on fire, calling it a “wave of domestic terrorism.”

But in the Spokane case, the man arrested says it was an accident.

North Snow, 22, was standing near Main and Wall streets downtown on March 22 waving a Palestine flag with his sibling at a transgender rights protest.

Nearby law enforcement stationed there for the protest observed seeing the flag wave over a Tesla driving east, hearing a jeer to the effect of “Nazi car” at the Tesla and then hearing an impact, police wrote in their reports.

Snow was later arrested and accused of resisting arrest, pedestrian interference, disorderly conduct and obstructing a law enforcement officer. Snow told police the flag blew in the wind and may have hit the car on accident. Officers told Snow, as they grabbed his arms, that he was resisting arrest because he was tensing up and pulling away.

At the time Snow was being arrested, other police formed an “arrest circle” around the two officers as a “safety tactic for crowd management” to prevent people from intervening, the police report states.

In videos online, one officer can be heard saying, “You’re under arrest,” and “Relax, please stop resisting.” Snow replies, “I am not” and “Stop.” Police eventually grab his arms, to which he says, “You are hurting me, let me go.”

As police walk Snow to their patrol cars, Snow can be heard yelling, “I didn’t do (expletive)” and “I apologize for the wind … blowing my flag down.”

Snow’s defense attorney Steve Graham said his client maintains any contact with the Tesla was inadvertent and that police contact with Snow seemed to be “excessive compared to what the police put up with downtown,” because Snow had marks on his wrist from being detained.

“I think police were trying to send a message,” he said. “There are probably more protests to come.”

After police walked Snow away from the area and waited for another car to take him to jail, police read him his rights, the report says, although witnesses to the incident have denied this happened on social media. The witnesses also posted that police told Snow he would be charged with “a hate crime against the driver,” although that is not indicated in any reports.

The Tesla involved in the incident has front, side and rear cameras. In the police report, photos show the flag blowing over the top of the Tesla as the car approaches Snow in the bike lane. From the right-side camera, the tip of the flag pole is visible overhead of the camera’s location, the report shows.

Police appear to have drawn an outline they believe shows Snow’s arm extended with the flag over the Tesla as a probable reason to arrest for pedestrian interference, according to the report. The driver of the Tesla was interviewed by police and stated the flag hit the top of his car, but didn’t cause any damage.

Musk has accused Democratic fundraisers of organizing the nationwide Tesla demonstrations. He took to his X platform last week to claim vandalism against his car brand should be considered “terrorism.” Although there is no federal domestic terrorism law on the books, prosecutors are able to use state law to attempt to convict a defendant.

Experts have long argued domestic terrorism in the U.S., like hate-based acts from far-right and white supremacist groups, should be tracked and treated with the same concern as foreign terrorism, especially after increasingly hostile race-based rhetoric following Trump’s first term.

Last week, a Spokane Valley woman was arrested after she sped by Tesla protesters while flipping them off and ignoring officers’ sirens, nearly causing a “significant” crash, police reports say.