Woman in a Tesla strikes a police bicyclist twice over a $30 parking citation
By: -----
Baltimore, MD - A routine parking citation turned into a confrontation involving a Baltimore police officer just days before his retirement, according to police and body-camera footage.
Officer Larry Fasano, a 33-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, was working one of his final shifts Aug. 13 when he encountered a pink Tesla illegally parked along Thames Street in Fells Point.
Fasano was on bike patrol shortly before 10 p.m. when he approached the vehicle to issue a parking citation.
"Something as simple as issuing a parking citation can put an officer's life in jeopardy and harm's way," said Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates.
According to police, the citation was for $30.
When the driver, identified as Tamia Anderson, got into the Tesla and attempted to leave, Fasano positioned himself in front of the vehicle and asked her to turn it off.
"Am I being arrested?" Anderson asks.
"No, you're not being arrested. You're going to be issued a citation," Fasano responds.
Anderson then tells the officer to move.
"You better get out of my way, sir," she says, then drives forward.
Police say Anderson's vehicle struck the wheel of Fasano's bicycle as she drove away. Fasano was not injured, but he followed the Tesla on his bicycle and radioed in its license plate number.
At one point, Fasano can be heard identifying the vehicle over the radio before the encounter escalates again.
Police say Anderson then put the vehicle in reverse and drove toward Fasano a second time.
"The alarming one for me is that when he started following her on the bike, she put the car in reverse and ran him over," said Worley. "She wasn't just trying to give him a love tap or something. The second time she was trying to run him over, which could have killed him."
"The second time she was trying to run him over."
Other officers eventually stopped the Tesla and arrested Anderson.
She faces charges including assault and fleeing and eluding police. Anderson was released on bond and is scheduled to appear in court next month.
Fasano was not injured in the incident.