Elon Musk calls for San Francisco lawmaker Dean Preston to be fired for blaming vehicle break-ins on tourists leaving their stuff in cars
Elon Musk calls for the resignation of San Francisco lawmaker Dean Preston as he blames car break-ins on tourists who leave their belongings in cars
- Preston, the Democratic District 5 supervisor, claimed that tourists should be tasked with curbing rising thefts
- He said visitors should be ‘blasted’ with messages not to leave items in cars
- But X owner Musk dismissed the comments, calling him the ‘most responsible’ person of SF’s ‘destruction’
Elon Musk has called for the resignation of a San Francisco lawmaker after suggesting tourists can avoid major thefts in the Democratic-run city by not leaving their belongings in cars.
The former Tesla boss took aim at city supervisor Dean Preston over comments he made earlier this week.
Preston suggested that the spate of car thefts plaguing the city could be solved if tourists took better care of their belongings.
He compared the proposal to the massive ‘buckle up’ campaign of the 1980s, which encouraged motorists to take responsibility for their own safety through the use of seat belts.
In a post on If you do this, we will drastically reduce the number of car burglaries.”
But technology magnate Musk, 52, denounced his comments and called for him to be removed from his position.
Elon Musk lashed out at San Francisco lawmaker Dean Preston after targeting the city’s tourists with a message about not leaving belongings in cars as a means to tackle rising thefts
Democrat Supervisor for District 5 Dean Preston (pictured left) is, according to Musk, ‘the person most responsible for the destruction of San Francisco’
In response to a post suggesting police should fill cars with valuables and catch thieves in sting operations, Musk said: “Absolutely. Dean Preston should also be fired. He may be the person most responsible for the destruction of San Francisco.”
Musk also pledged to match the $50,000 donation to the ‘Dump Dean’ campaign for one more X user.
Preston had previously pointed to statistics showing that there are about 20,000 car burglaries every year, except for 2020 during the pandemic, when tourism fell and burglaries fell by more than 40 percent.
The city of Golden Gate is currently in the grip of a crime wave that has skyrocketed the number of thefts and carjackings.
According to crime data recorded between January and September 2023, robberies are up 15.9 percent compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, motor vehicle theft rose 10.8 percent.
According to a Yahoo study, approximately 40,000 Bay Area residents are homeless in the Bay Area on any given night.
Tourists repeatedly found themselves at the center of violent crimes in the Californian city.
Musk used his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to blast San Francisco lawmaker Dean Preston’s record
Earlier this week, shocking footage emerged of the moment a tourist clung to the side of his own van after carjackers sped away at him at 60mph as he tried to stop the burglary.
Musk’s comments come after Preston was criticized for proposing a policy that would ban store security guards from drawing weapons.
Preston proposed the law in response to protests over the killing of unarmed Banko Brown, 24, who was shot by Walgreens security guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony.
Murder charges against Anthony were dropped after the district attorney ruled his actions were self-defense because he feared being stabbed.
But the law sparked anger from critics who described it as “incitement to theft.”