A man torches Tesla chargers in South Carolina and catches his clothes on fire

A Tesla charger operates Monday, March 4, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — A man burned three Tesla chargers in a South Carolina parking lot and also apparently inadvertently set his clothes on fire, police said.

The man spray-painted “long live the Ukraine” and a crude reference to U.S. President Donald Trump on the pavement next to the charging stations Friday near an outlet mall in North Charleston, according to a report from the North Charleston Police.

The man then ignited an unidentified material stuffed into beer bottles and began to throw the bottles at the stations, police said. While doing so he caught the clothes on his back on fire, then ran from the parking lot, witnesses told police.

No arrests have been made, North Charleston Police spokesperson Harve Jacobs said Tuesday. The agency turned the investigation over to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Investigators collected the beer bottles while firefighters cut the power to the chargers and put out the blaze.

The Associated Press