Woman injured after Tesla windshield smashed in Vancouver

Vancouver police are investigating after a pregnant woman was badly hurt by a big rock that smashed through her Tesla windshield on Sunday.

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) says the woman was a passenger travelling north in a grey Tesla on Nanaimo Street near East 27th Avenue around 8:45 p.m. when a two-pound rock flew through the windshield, struck her, and landed inside the vehicle.

Sgt. Steve Addison says the injured woman came within a few inches of dying. She suffered a “serious, but non-life-threatening injury, and is recovering.”

Police are trying to determine if the incident was a criminal act and if someone intentionally targetted the vehicle.

That weekend, hundreds of groups rallied at Tesla showrooms around the world, including four peaceful protests in the Lower Mainland.

The event, dubbed the Tesla Takedown’s Global Day of Action, was the latest demonstration by those who object to the role Tesla CEO Elon Musk has played in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Demonstrators say they want people to sell their Tesla vehicles and dump any stock in the company.

In response, the VPD reportedly deployed more than 130 extra officers to maintain order at protests.

The department said officers are investigating 28 anti-Tesla incidents since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, including “hateful words and symbols spray-painted on buildings, eggs thrown at cars, and windshields smashed” at dealerships and charging stations.

Addison commended the Vancouver protests as peaceful and lawful.

“Police don’t yet know where the rock came from or what caused it to strike the vehicle,” the VPD said about the Sunday incident.

Witnesses to the incident or anyone with dashcam footage from the area at the time are asked to contact VPD at 604-717-4021.

—With files from Maria Vinca