Brookhaven Police Tesla Model S Bought With Drug Money

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On Saturday, 340 Teslas were in a Tesla parade to fight human trafficking. One of those Teslas was a Model S — a very special Model S that was bought with confiscated drug money. The Brookhaven Police Department bought it used and remade it into a police car. Brookhaven, which is an Atlanta suburb, used confiscated drug money to purchase the used Model S.

Watch out! The cops are here. pic.twitter.com/6aXWsaWI6v

— TesLatino (@TesLatino) December 12, 2020

“The Tesla Model S only had 22,000 miles on it, comes with a 100,000 mile/eight-year warranty, and we got it at a reasonable $45,000; saving taxpayer dollars by using confiscated drug funds,” said Brookhaven City Manager Christian Sigman. She added, “I don’t know of any other city this side of the Mississippi that is testing an electric vehicle platform for patrol vehicles. Other cities have electric cars for administrative purposes, but we would be the first to use them for law enforcement patrol operations.”

I had originally shared a video of the police car while at the event. Autocorrect was not my friend and changed S to 3. It happens. A day later, after many pointed out my mistake, I reshared the video.

Trying this again—autocorrect is never my friend.

Brookhaven PD’s *MODEL S* was a part of yesterday’s Tesla parade—thanks for calling out my typo y’all 😅 pic.twitter.com/EEyQ2Xbaqv

— Johnna (@JohnnaCrider1) December 13, 2020

I wasn’t able to get a look inside, but my friend, who always stops by with his wife on his Tesla road trips when they take him through Baton Rouge, TesLatino, was able to in his video. He also zoomed in on the back of the police car, where it says, “Paid for by your local drug dealer.”

You may notice Rafael speaking in Spanish in the video. One of the things is he is known for is his videos in both English and Spanish, where he shares his love for Tesla in both English and Spanish. “So it’s not every day that you get to see a police car that is actually a Tesla, so this is really awesome. Change is here. Change is happening,” he said before translating into Spanish.

The #Tesla Parade happened in Atlanta GA this weekend, they set a new Guinness World Record, 339 Tesla’s in a Parade! Even a local Police Department joined in on the display! pic.twitter.com/ZWrc1lGUsJ

— TheTeslaLife (@TheTeslaLife) December 13, 2020

#TeslaParade pic.twitter.com/3OVvg5gOc4

— Geo (@GeoAmador4) December 12, 2020

So cool to see @BrookhavenGA_PD and their @tesla Model S in the parade today. @ForsythCountySO you could be in the next one! #TeslaRecord pic.twitter.com/BiqhjF8bmw

— Brett Belding (@bbelding) December 12, 2020

Police Escort

One of the crucial elements to this weekend’s event was the support from the local police departments, state troopers, and GA Commissioner Tim Echols. I was also able to meet up with Commissioner Echols and some of the troopers, who led the parade and helped make it the huge success that it was. I didn’t get a chance to interview them (they were working), but did get a quick photo in for fun.

Many thanks to the @timechols and the GA State Troopers for being a huge part of the Tesla Parade and escorting us pic.twitter.com/xnwlATjTdU

— Johnna (@JohnnaCrider1) December 12, 2020

Nice to meet ya @seanmathis Commissioner @timechols pic.twitter.com/7iRjl6IT3r

— Johnna (@JohnnaCrider1) December 12, 2020

Rafael also shared his thoughts on the police escort in his video. “That group that you see behind me is the police escort that’s going to escort the parade breaking this record.” Along with the Georgia State Police motorcycle unit and the Brookhaven PD, whose car was in the parade, the Alpharetta PD and the Sandy Springs PD were also helping out.

Law Enforcement was critical to the safety of our many participants. Thanks @AlpharettaDPS and @SandySprings_PD and the GSP motorcycle corps. pic.twitter.com/Aa84UXpein

— Tim Echols (@timechols) December 14, 2020

Commissioner Echols also noted that Georgia Power was involved by donating safety vests for the volunteers and helping with the permit to close down the GA 400. “Without those State Patrol officers and blocked intersections, well, it would not have been a parade and qualified as a record-breaking event.” Commissioner Echols said in a tweet.

Shutting down the freeway for 30 minutes was the most challenging issue. Thanks to @georgiapowerET for arranging that. That might not happen in California. @DougTurnbull @mckayWSB @MikeShieldsWSB @wsbradio @AshleyFrascaWSB @StauntonUK @JMPyper @kcboyce @NewEnergyGuy @GDOTATL pic.twitter.com/ELGprNjcsz

— Tim Echols (@timechols) December 13, 2020

A lot of Tesla owners got fussed at by their own cars for going through red lights that day. While in Nick’s car, we were jamming to Elon Musks’ song “Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe,” which got interrupted frequently by the alert. As you can see in the tweet below, we weren’t the only ones noticing.

When you have Police protection for going through the RED signal 😎 #TeslaParade @TeslaAtlanta @teslaownerssv @Model3Owners @TeslaMotorsClub pic.twitter.com/CIenP0FIgm

— Manish Katiyar (@manishkatiyar) December 12, 2020

Toward the end of Rafael’s video, he and Bryan from i1 Tesla shared their thoughts about how important it was to have the police there helping and making sure everyone was safe. “Thank you to the Atlanta Police Department,” Bryan said. Rafael added, “Yeah, they are heroes — really, they did a really good job. They stopped all the intersections, they closed the highway exits.” Bryan also added: “Sorry to anybody that was stopped.” Yes, there were a lot of people stopped and waiting while we took over the GA 400.

“It was a good event for a good reason — supporting a very good cause,” Rafael justifies it.