The Elitist Media evening news will often fill their newscasts with stories about vehicular mishaps (sometimes as filler that facilitates the omission of narrative-inconvenient stories). As we’ve often noted, only one vehicle brand is ever mentioned by name when these stories go on the air.
With everything else going on, a non-lethal incident involving a stolen Tesla being plowed across a San Diego boardwalk somehow became a national story. This story is strategically placed in order to suck up a spot that otherwise could go to horrific illegal alien crimes, for example. Instead, we get the networks’ latest outbreak of Elon Derangement Syndrome.
Here’s the story as reported on ABC World News Tonight on Tuesday, September 15th, 2026:
WATCH: @ABCWorldNews continues their tradition of specifically naming @Tesla vehicles involved in mishaps- a distinction extended to no other automaker pic.twitter.com/ESEH1hcEYD
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 16, 2026
DAVID MUIR: Now to the horrific hit and run on a San Diego beach. The driver speeding down a crowded boardwalk and bystanders chasing the suspect, one of the bystanders with a pair of smart glasses, glasses with a camera inside capturing the horrific scene. Here's Kayna Whitworth.
BYSTANDER: Go get him, get him!
KAYNA WHITWORTH: Tonight, mayhem at a San Diego beach after police say a man driving a stolen Tesla crashed onto a busy boardwalk, injuring a person.
BYSTANDER: Get this (...) guy, bro.
WHITWORTH: Bystanders then chased after the suspect as he attempted to flee the scene, eventually restraining him in a nearby parking lot until officers arrived. The camera from one witness’s smart glasses capturing the entire incident, which officials say began just after 12:00 Monday afternoon when the owner of that Tesla reported the vehicle stolen. Authorities say the suspect fled after they tried initiating a traffic stop. Surveillance video showing the car hurtling down the oceanfront.
EYEWITNESS: I look behind me. I see a Tesla just flying over, like 40 or 50 miles an hour.
WHITWORTH: Police say the suspect then struck a transformer before crashing along that boardwalk at San Diego's Pacific Beach. Officials say a 25-year-old woman suffered severe but non-life-threatening injuries in the impact. And David, that suspect now facing multiple charges, including driving under the influence, and is being held on $100,000 bond. David.
MUIR: Kayna Whitworth reporting tonight. Kayna, thanks.
I’m mildly surprised that the most Trump-deranged network broadcast newscast didn’t blare Tesla out multiple times within the anchor introduction, which David Muir has done before. Kayna Whitworth’s report noted the vehicle was stolen. And yet it is still name-dropped. When was the last time you heard another brand mentioned in these vehicle mishap reports? Exactly.
CBS did more of the same, but name-dropping Tesla early. Here’s their report as aired on the Evening News on Tuesday, September 15th, 2026:
As does @CBSEveningNews pic.twitter.com/gWKklblc8Y
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 16, 2026
TONY DOKOUPIL: We turn now to San Diego where a man racing a stolen Tesla down a crowded boardwalk hit a woman, setting off a wild chase involving lots of witnesses including one recording it all on a pair of smart glasses. Here's CBS Jonah Kaplan.
JONAH KAPLAN: Surveillance video shows a woman jumping out of the way as a blue Tesla speeds down a San Diego boardwalk.
EYEWITNESS: I hear somebody scream like "Watch out!" And then a millisecond later he hits my bike and he's this close to hitting me.
BYSTANDER: Get this (...) guy, bro. Get him! Get him!
KAPLAN: Alex Srour captured it on camera with his smart glasses as he chased down the driver, who fled on foot and more bystanders jump into action. As Srour is closing in on the driver, he realizes...
ALEX SROUR: If I didn't have my Birkenstocks on it would have been a lot easier to get after him so I threw them off like halfway.
KAPLAN: He catches up to the suspect and pins him down.
SROUR: I got on top of him and started screaming in his face, like, this is so wrong. You're insane!
KAPLAN: San Diego police say the 39-year-old John Gonzaba stole the Tesla and led officers on a high-speed chase before turning onto the busy boardwalk. That’s where he plowed into a woman who is now recovering at the hospital.
SROUR: Stay the [bleep] down!
JUAN GONZABA: I lost my mind!
KAPLAN: Srour held down Gonzaba until officers arrived and took him into custody.
SROUR: I think I did the right thing getting him on the ground and keeping him on the ground. Because he would have kept going if he was- if nobody was there.
KAPLAN: Gonzaba is facing multiple charges. Auto theft, evading police, hit and run, and DUI. He’ll be arraigned tomorrow. Jonah Kaplan, CBS News, New York.
To their credit, CBS ran a chryon indicating the Tesla was stolen. Two mentions in Jonah Kaplan’s video package, same as ABC, but Tony Dokoupil mentioned the brand in his introduction to the report. The Media Hall Monitors will say this is somehow MAGA-coded.
NBC rounds out the trio, here’s their report as aired on the Nightly News on Tuesday, September 15th, 2026:
As does @CBSEveningNews pic.twitter.com/gWKklblc8Y
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 16, 2026
TOM LLAMAS: Now to that wild video out of San Diego. And it was all caught on a pair of Meta sunglasses. Good Samaritans chasing down a man accused of speeding down a boardwalk in a Tesla and slamming into a woman. Steve Patterson picks it up from there.
BYSTANDER: Go get him, get him!
STEVE PATTERSON: Two good Samaritans jumping into action, chasing down a man who San Diego police say stole a vehicle, struck a woman, and fled the scene on foot.
GOOD SAMARITAN: What the (...) is this guy's problem, bro? (VIDEO SWIPE) Get the (...) on the ground!
PATTERSON: A Meta sunglasses camera capturing them tackle and pin the suspect, now identified by police as 39-year-old Juan Gonzaba. That's Dijor Hardway, seen leading the charge barefoot.
DIJOR HARDWAY: Tripped him up and grabbed him down and held him down. It's for the greater good. And I am not, you know, scared of any type of altercation. I've been there.
PATTERSON: Police say it all happened shortly after 12:30 yesterday. Harrowing surveillance video showing that stolen blue Tesla speeding along the boardwalk. Watch again in slow motion. You can see a woman leap for cover just in time.
BYSTANDER: Everyone was, like, jumping, like, to the sides. We saw people jumping to the beach. And yeah, it was crazy.
PATTERSON: Police say another woman wasn't so lucky. The driver striking her, leaving her with serious injuries. Police say they tried to stop that Tesla before it reached the boardwalk, but ended their pursuit because of the safety risk. Gonzaba now facing multiple charges including DUI, hit and run, and vehicle theft. He’s scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow. Steve Patterson, NBC News.
NBC, too, went with an early mention in the introduction before going to the report. Correspondent Steve Patterson passes on naming a brand during the first mention of a vehicle, but then conforms and mentions Tesla by name.
Again, this is a distinction that no automaker draws. No other automaker is mentioned during these reports. Why is that? It’s evident that the media never forgave Musk for daring to dissent on free speech and rebel against the Woke Mind Virus, which in turn led him to support Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. That’s why related coverage is (D)ifferent.
