News
FBI taps Tesla Sentry Mode footage to help catch man behind alleged hate crimes
It appears that some members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are now becoming familiar with Tesla’s built-in security features like Sentry Mode, which allows vehicles to record videos from their cameras to actively monitor their surroundings. This was undoubtedly the case in an incident back in December, which involved slashed tires, arson, and what appears to be a racially motivated attack against a church.
In an affidavit dated April 15, 2021, FBI Special Agent Casey Anderson outlined the events that led to an incident that resulted in the destruction of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Massachusetts. The suspect behind the incident, 44-year-old Maine resident Dushko Vulchev, is a naturalized United States citizen from Bulgaria. As per the FBI agent’s affidavit, Vulchev had previously run afoul of the law prior to his apparent arson in December, having been convicted of threatening a foreign official in 2015 and a series of offenses such as domestic violence assault in 2017.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Massachusetts before the fires. (Credit: CourtListener)
The Attacks
In December 2020, the MLK Church experienced a series of fires, one of which eventually destroyed the whole building. The first of these fires were reported on December 13, when the fire department was deployed to extinguish a blaze behind the church. On the same day, a vehicle had its tires slashed two miles away from the church. The next day, a BMW about 1.5 miles away from the MLK church and a Tesla parked less than a mile away from the church had their tires slashed. In the case of the Tesla, its owner found that one of the vehicle’s wheels was also missing.
Another fire behind the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Presbyterian Church was set on December 15, 2020, at around 6:32 p.m. The Springfield Police Department (SPD) Arson and Bomb Squad investigated the fire and promptly determined that the blaze had been intentionally ignited. Interestingly enough, another fire in the church was reported at 11:03 p.m. that same day. Upon investigation, the SFD reported that the blaze had been “intentionally set to eventually involve the structure” of the church.
Things essentially calmed down until December 27, when a Dodge Charger had its tires slashed just 400-500 feet away from the MLK Church. At around 5:06 a.m. the next day, the American International College campus police reported a new blaze at the MLK Church. This time, the fire was started just outside the basement side door, where it burned through and up through the church’s main floor. The blaze essentially destroyed the church, and upon investigation, the SPD concluded that the fire was intentional.
Photos of the MLK Church during the December 28, 2020 blaze. (Credit: CourtListener)
The Investigation
Investigators working on the case were able to obtain several video footage relevant to the case. In the first tire slashing incident on December 13, footage from the City of Springfield recorded a gray Chevy Cruze pulling up into the same parking lot as the vehicle that was attacked. The car was found to have been registered to the suspect, Vulchev. City video footage captured the suspect crossing the street in the direction of the MLK Community Center later that day. The gray Chevy Cruze was also recorded circling the MLK Church.
Vulchev’s Chevy Cruze was sighted by city video footage once more the next day, when the BMW tire slashing incident transpired. As per the FBI agent’s affidavit, a while male matching Vulchev’s height, gait, and clothing, was spotted approaching the BMW. Later that day, a Tesla became the next victim of the suspect’s tire slashing tendencies. But this time around, the special agent didn’t just have a faraway shot of a man approaching a vehicle. This time around, authorities were able to get a clear shot of Vulchev as he was slashing and stealing the Tesla’s tires and stealing a wheel, thanks to Sentry Mode. Tesla’s built-in cameras even captured the suspect putting the stolen goods inside his trunk.
Special Agent Casey Anderson related his experience with Teslas and their built-in cameras in his affidavit. “Based on my training and experience and this investigation, I am aware that the Tesla referenced above is equipped with cameras at various points around the body. ATF Special Agent Marc Maurino (“SA Maurino”) and I have reviewed video footage retrieved from the Tesla showing an individual that I can identify as Vulchev, based on my observation of Vulchev during the Vulchev PPD Interview.
“The video footage from the Tesla shows Vulchev at a close distance crouching near the Tesla and using a tire iron to remove the wheels. Additional Tesla video footage captured Vulchev removing one of the Tesla’s wheels and placing it in the trunk of Vulchev’s car. Vulchev’s face is clearly visible in the video. Vulchev was wearing grey pants and a dark-colored sweatshirt, Adidas three-stripe sneakers, a black hat with two grey stripes, and light-colored work gloves, the agent noted in his affidavit.
Vulchev and his vehicle were spotted around the MLK Church fires, as well as subsequent tire slashing incidents.
The MLK Church after the December 28, 2020 fire. (Credit: CourtListener)
The Arrest
On December 30, 2020, a complaint about a vehicle driving erratically was reported to authorities. When provided with the license plate of the vehicle in question, it was determined that the car was Vulchev’s. Police stopped the suspect’s vehicle on suspicion of erratic driving and possible links to the multiple tire slashing incidents. Since they were aware of the ongoing federal investigation into the fires against MLK Church, local authorities promptly contacted FBI Supervisory Special Agent of the Springfield Resident Agency Matthew Fontaine.
Special Agent Fontaine arrived at the scene of the stop, and upon initial investigation, the FBI agent noted that the suspect may have been living in his car for some time. The FBI agent spoke with the suspect for about eight minutes outside, and immediately, Fontaine noted that Vulchev was wearing the sneakers that were captured clearly by Tesla’s Sentry Mode. PPD officers initially released the suspect, though he was arrested the day after over his links to the multiple tire slashing incidents and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Presbyterian Church fires.
On January 4, 2021, the FBI and ATF conducted a search of Vulchev’s vehicle, where they found a computer, a hard drive, and several USB storage devices. A search of the computer revealed Vulchev’s shocking racially charged stance against non-white people. This was seen in messages to an ex-girlfriend—who currently has a lifetime protective order against Vulchev—which featured numerous slurs against Muslims and blacks. Vulchev’s apparent hate against non-whites was notable, as seen in a message to his ex-girlfriend where he was complaining about the race of ABC’s The Bachelorette. A search of the suspect’s phone revealed photos of several notable items, such as a firearm, an image of Adolf Hitler in an Adidas tracksuit, and a “White Lives Matter” mural, as well.
With these in mind, FBI Special Agent Casey Anderson noted that there is probable cause to believe that Vulchev committed damage to religious property, which is in violation of 18 USC §§ 247(c) and (d)(3), and the use of fire to commit a federal felony, which is in violation of USC § 844(h)(1). As per a press release from the US Department of Justice, Vulchev is currently in state custody and is due to make an initial appearance in federal court in Springfield at a later date.
FBI Special Agent Casey Anderson’s complete affidavit could be accessed below.
gov.uscourts.mad.233009.2.1_1 by Simon Alvarez on Scribd
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Tesla Optimus showed off its newest capability as progress on the project continues to accelerate toward an ultimate goal of mass production in the coming years.
Tesla is still developing Optimus and preparing for the first stages of mass production, where units would be sold and shipped to customers. CEO Elon Musk has always marketed the humanoid robot as the biggest product in history, even outside of Tesla, but of all time.
He believes it will eliminate the need to manually perform monotonous tasks, like cleaning, mowing the lawn, and folding laundry.
However, lately, Musk has revealed even bigger plans for Optimus, including the ability to relieve humans of work entirely within the next 20 years.
JUST IN: Elon Musk says working will be ‘optional’ in less than 20 years because of AI and robotics. pic.twitter.com/l3S5kl5HBB
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) November 30, 2025
Development at Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence and Robotics teams has progressed, and a new video was shown of the robot taking a light jog with what appeared to be some pretty natural form:
Just set a new PR in the lab pic.twitter.com/8kJ2om7uV7
— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) December 2, 2025
Optimus has also made several public appearances lately, including one at the Neural Information Processing Systems, or NeurIPS Conference. Some spectators shared videos of Optimus’s charging rig, as well as its movements and capabilities, most interestingly, the hand:
You have to hand it to Elon 🤟 pic.twitter.com/fZKDlmGAbe
— Ric Burton · NeurIPS 2025 (@_ricburton) December 2, 2025
The hand, forearm, and fingers have been one of the most evident challenges for Tesla in recent times, especially as it continues to work on its 3rd Generation iteration of Optimus.
Musk said during the Q3 Earnings Call:
“I don’t want to downplay the difficulty, but it’s an incredibly difficult thing, especially to create a hand that is as dexterous and capable as the human hand, which is incredible. The human hand is an incredible thing. The more you study the human hand, the more incredible you realize it is, and why you need four fingers and a thumb, why the fingers have certain degrees of freedom, why the various muscles are of different strengths, and fingers are of different lengths. It turns out that those are all there for a reason.”
The interesting part of the Optimus program so far is the fact that Tesla has made a lot of progress with other portions of the project, like movement, for example, which appears to have come a long way.
However, without a functional hand and fingers, Optimus could be rendered relatively useless, so it is evident that it has to figure this crucial part out first.
Elon Musk said in late November that he’s “tried to warn” legacy automakers and “even offered to license Tesla Full Self-Driving, but they don’t want it,” expressing frustration with companies that refuse to adopt the company’s suite, which will eventually be autonomous.
Tesla has long established itself as the leader in self-driving technology, especially in the United States. Although there are formidable competitors, Tesla’s FSD suite is the most robust and is not limited to certain areas or roadways. It operates anywhere and everywhere.
The company’s current position as the leader in self-driving tech is being ignored by legacy automakers, a parallel to what Tesla’s position was with EV development over a decade ago, which was also ignored by competitors.
The reluctance mirrors how legacy automakers initially dismissed EVs, only to scramble in catch-up mode years later–a pattern that highlights their historical underestimation of disruptive innovations from Tesla.
Elon Musk’s Self-Driving Licensing Attempts
Musk and Tesla have tried to push Full Self-Driving to other car companies, with no true suitors, despite ongoing conversations for years. Tesla’s FSD is aiming to become more robust through comprehensive data collection and a larger fleet, something the company has tried to establish through a subscription program, free trials, and other strategies.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sends rivals dire warning about Full Self-Driving
However, competing companies have not wanted to license FSD for a handful of speculative reasons: competitive pride, regulatory concerns, high costs, or preference for in-house development.
Déjà vu All Over Again
Tesla tried to portray the importance of EVs long ago, as in the 2010s, executives from companies like Ford and GM downplayed the importance of sustainable powertrains as niche or unprofitable.
Musk once said in a 2014 interview that rivals woke up to electric powertrains when the Model S started to disrupt things and gained some market share. Things got really serious upon the launch of the Model 3 in 2017, as a mass-market vehicle was what Tesla was missing from its lineup.
This caused legacy companies to truly wake up; they were losing market share to Tesla’s new and exciting tech that offered less maintenance, a fresh take on passenger auto, and other advantages. They were late to the party, and although they have all launched vehicles of their own, they still lag in two major areas: sales and infrastructure, leaning on Tesla for the latter.
I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy …
When legacy auto does occasionally reach out, they tepidly discuss implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable requirements for Tesla, so pointless. 🤷♂️
🦕 🦕
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2025
Musk’s past warnings have been plentiful. In 2017, he responded to critics who stated Tesla was chasing subsidies. He responded, “Few people know that we started Tesla when GM forcibly recalled all electric cars from customers in 2003 and then crushed them in a junkyard,” adding that “they would be doing nothing” on EVs without Tesla’s efforts.
Companies laughed off Tesla’s prowess with EVs, only to realize they had made a grave mistake later on.
It looks to be happening once again.
A Pattern of Underestimation
Both EVs and self-driving tech represent major paradigm shifts that legacy players view as threats to their established business models; it’s hard to change. However, these early push-aways from new tech only result in reactive strategies later on, usually resulting in what pains they are facing now.
Ford is scaling back its EV efforts, and GM’s projects are hurting. Although they both have in-house self-driving projects, they are falling well behind the progress of Tesla and even other competitors.
It is getting to a point where short-term risk will become a long-term setback, and they may have to rely on a company to pull them out of a tough situation later on, just as it did with Tesla and EV charging infrastructure.
Tesla has continued to innovate, while legacy automakers have lagged behind, and it has cost them dearly.
Implications and Future Outlook
Moving forward, Tesla’s progress will continue to accelerate, while a dismissive attitude by other companies will continue to penalize them, especially as time goes on. Falling further behind in self-driving could eventually lead to market share erosion, as autonomy could be a crucial part of vehicle marketing within the next few years.
Eventually, companies could be forced into joint partnerships as economic pressures mount. Some companies did this with EVs, but it has not resulted in very much.
Self-driving efforts are not only a strength for companies themselves, but they also contribute to other things, like affordability and safety.
Tesla has exhibited data that specifically shows its self-driving tech is safer than human drivers, most recently by a considerable margin. This would help with eliminating accidents and making roads safer.
Tesla’s new Safety Report shows Autopilot is nine times safer than humans
Additionally, competition in the market is a good thing, as it drives costs down and helps innovation continue on an upward trend.
Conclusion
The parallels are unmistakable: a decade ago, legacy automakers laughed off electric vehicles as toys for tree-huggers, crushed their own EV programs, and bet everything on the internal-combustion status quo–only to watch Tesla redefine the industry while they scrambled for billions in catch-up capital.
Today, the same companies are turning down repeated offers to license Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology, insisting they can build better autonomy in-house, even as their own programs stumble through recalls, layoffs, and missed milestones. History is not merely rhyming; it is repeating almost note-for-note.
Elon Musk has spent twenty years warning that the auto industry’s bureaucratic inertia and short-term thinking will leave it stranded on the wrong side of technological revolutions. The question is no longer whether Tesla is ahead–it is whether the giants of Detroit, Stuttgart, and Toyota will finally listen before the next wave leaves them watching another leader pull away in the rear-view mirror.
This time, the stakes are not just market share; they are the very definition of what a car will be in the decades ahead.
News
Waymo driverless taxi drives directly into active LAPD standoff
No injuries occurred, and the passengers inside the vehicle were safely transported to their destination, as per a Waymo representative.
A video posted on social media has shown an occupied Waymo driverless taxi driving directly into the middle of an active LAPD standoff in downtown Los Angeles.
As could be seen in the short video, which was initially posted on Instagram by user Alex Choi, a Waymo driverless taxi drove directly into the middle of an active LAPD standoff in downtown Los Angeles.
The driverless taxi made an unprotected left turn despite what appeared to be a red light, briefly entering a police perimeter. At the time, officers seemed to be giving commands to a prone suspect on the ground, who looked quite surprised at the sudden presence of the driverless vehicle.
People on the sidewalk, including the person who was filming the video, could be heard chuckling at the Waymo’s strange behavior.
The Waymo reportedly cleared the area within seconds. No injuries occurred, and the passengers inside the vehicle were safely transported to their destination, as per a Waymo representative. Still, the video spread across social media, with numerous netizens poking fun at the gaffe.
Others also pointed out that such a gaffe would have resulted in widespread controversy had the vehicle involved been a Tesla on FSD. Tesla is constantly under scrutiny, with TSLA shorts and similar groups actively trying to put down the company’s FSD program.
A Tesla on FSD or Robotaxi accidentally driving into an active police standoff would likely cause lawsuits, nonstop media coverage, and calls for a worldwide ban, at the least.
This was one of the reasons why even minor traffic infractions committed by the company’s Robotaxis during their initial rollout in Austin received nationwide media attention. This particular Waymo incident, however, will likely not receive as much coverage.
Tesla Optimus shows off its newest capability as progress accelerates
Elon Musk and Tesla try to save legacy automakers from Déjà vu
