Citations for charging our car at Yellowstone

[tes-s]

No sane lawyer would take this case.

That's ok. That leaves plenty of laywers.

 

[Peteybabes]

That's ok. That leaves plenty of laywers.

and non-retired judges for that matter...

 

[VikH]

Let's clear this up. There is no link between dismissal of 2 citations and the owner's right to file a lawsuit in federal court. Go ahead and sue! No sane lawyer would take this case. You would need to prove that the ranger knew that pulling the charge cable would damage the vehicle and that this was unreasonable. The officer likely thought it was sticking and used the end to lever it out. Even if done knowingly, retaining the cable connecting the trespassing vehicle to the unauthorized use of public property was arguably reasonable, given the mobility of the offending vehicle and the need to preserve the evidence. Appropriating public property for personal use is theft although very petty. True, the ranger overreacted. Two citations were probably sufficient. Taking the cable was overkill, but not the basis for a lawsuit. Imagine telling a judge or jury, " I parked my Tesla illegally on the lawn at the post office and plugged into an outlet to get 'free' power. That ranger unplugged my car and broke my charging port. Please give me money!" When they stop laughing they will dump your claim and send you back where you came from. They may check your car for toilet paper taken from the public restroom and other "free" souvenirs. (As a retired judge, overeager police are irritating, but petty lawsuits from the entitled are a waste of expensive court resources.) Looks to me like the result was more than fair.

No. All the ranger has to do is unplug the other end of the mobile connector from the outlet. End of story. There is no need to unplug the portion that is connected to the car.

 

[PJFW8]

No. All the ranger has to do is unplug the other end of the mobile connector from the outlet. End of story. There is no need to unplug the portion that is connected to the car.

The ranger's purpose was likely to require the out of state violator to contact the authorities, rather than just take off. In hindsight, your approach may have been more practical.

 

[dmsail]

What happened with the damage to your car?

I didn't mention anything about damage to the car. As I said, I am not one hundred per cent sure that he broke it. We have over 20 k miles of road trips and we have charged away from home dozens of times so it could have happened anywhere. It was just the first time I noticed that the cable locking was not working. The next time I have the car in for service at Tesla I will ask how much it costs and decide then whether or not to pay to have it fixed.

 

[dmsail]

No. All the ranger has to do is unplug the other end of the mobile connector from the outlet. End of story. There is no need to unplug the portion that is connected to the car.

He wanted to confiscate the charger so that we would not leave without visiting the ranger station. As it turned out, we returned to our car before the officer left the scene.

 

[beachmiles]

There are tons of legitimate places to charge in Yellowstone. Worst case, he *could* have rented a campsite and plugged in. His fault, no sympathy.

Looking at plugshare the old faithfull 14-50 outlets look like they are good to be used. Hearing the opposite of this now makes the few other spots now questionable. Can you let me know what spots you know of or what source you used to get the info?

 

[Solarman004]

Looking at plugshare the old faithfull 14-50 outlets look like they are good to be used. Hearing the opposite of this now makes the few other spots now questionable. Can you let me know what spots you know of or what source you used to get the info?

The OP was using a 14-50 plug at the post office, which is not any of the PlugShare options. We had our MX 75D at Yellowstone last year and had no problems by following some simple rules: we used only the locations on PlugShare, and we asked building managers before plugging in. At Lake Yellowstone, the hotel manager was super nice. She came outside and directed us to a 14-50 socket in the maintenance yard and let us stayed plugged in as long as we wanted.
We were there in May before peak tourist season. I can foresee problems in the future with a lot of EVs trying to use few sockets. I know the Park Service is grossly underfunded, but in their quest to clean the air at parks, I hope they look into building some dedicated, multi-point charging stations.
By the way, Yellowstone is absolutely awesome!