It started as a normal Sunday afternoon at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow. Families were heading in and out of the Aquatic Center, cars filling the lot along Hempstead Turnpike.
Then one driver came back to something he never expected.
A 46-year-old man told police he had left his 2024 Tesla Cybertruck parked in the lot near the Aquatic Center at 1899 Hempstead Turnpike around 4:33 p.m. When he returned, the vehicle had been heavily damaged. Both driver-side doors and both passenger-side doors showed visible destruction.
What should have been a routine trip to the park turned into a costly and unsettling discovery.
Detectives launched an investigation into who could have targeted the vehicle in broad daylight, in one of Nassau County’s busiest public parks.
That investigation led them to a suspect.
Police say 52-year-old Avesh Vij, of Jericho, was identified as the person responsible for damaging the Cybertruck. He was taken into custody without incident.
Vij has been charged with Criminal Mischief in the Second Degree and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead.
As with all cases, the charge is an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
Photos: Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons/NCPD
