We're now getting some clues about that Tesla that was found parked in the middle of a walkway in Alta Plaza Park last week, and it appears linked to a local resident from a prominent family who may be in the midst of a mental health crisis.

Austin Hills, 45, is the great-grandson of one of the founders of Hills Bros. Coffee, the San Francisco coffee company that became a national brand and is now owned by Massimo Zanetti Beverage, which also owns the Chock Full O' Nuts brand. (A vintage Hill Bros. neon sign can still be seen on the company's former building along the Embarcadero.)

Hills put in a bid to become district attorney in 2022, despite not having legal experience, and that was abandoned, but as the Chronicle notes, he also seems to have toyed with a mayoral race last year as well. And in the last 15 years, he's had 11 criminal cases filed against him, including one from last summer that was referred to mental-health diversion.

Friends tell the Chronicle that Hills suffers from bipolar disorder, and when he's off his medication he can be prone to manic episodes, some of which have involved reckless driving incidents. His father, socialite Austin E. Hills, has said in court papers that his son has spent more of his adult life unemployed than employed.

One bizarre incident last week landed him in jail in the East Bay, and it occurred early on the morning of July 12 — the same morning that a blue Tesla Model S was randomly parked in the middle of Alta Plaza Park, across the street from Hills's Pac Heights home. Per the Chronicle, the car has since been identified as being registered to a trust belonging to Hills.

Hills was allegedly driving a different vehicle, a Land Rover, when he allegedly began tailgating and trying to rear-end a different blue Tesla outside the Tesla factory in Fremont Thursday morning. According to Fremont police, a security guard working at the Tesla plant was on his break around 3:15 am Thursday when a driver, identified as Hills, began tailgating him.

Per the Chronicle and the police report, Hills allegedly turned his headlights off and began trying to ram the Tesla at high speeds. Hills reportedly chased the security guard into the Tesla warehouse parking lot on Page Avenue, and then allegedly rammed an occupied Kia Forte on Page Avenue three times before fleeing the scene.

Fremont police say they spotted Hills's Land Rover on Kato Road and began a pursuit, which continued onto I-680. They say they lost the vehicle after Hills turned his headlights off and began "driving erratically at a high rate of speed."

Hills was later located and arrested at his home in Napa several hours later, at 7:20 am. More bizarrely, police say they found cellphones, laptops, a metal pressure cooker, a gas mask, a drone, shell casings, gas cans, and alcohol in the Land Rover at the time of Hills's arrest.

He was scheduled to be arraigned today and spent the weekend in Santa Rita Jail.

Police say that when they questioned Hills, he claimed not to recall having collided with the Kia, but admitted to being the driver of the Land Rover. He reportedly said that the Tesla security guard had been driving erratically and had "blocked" him. Police also said he appeared to show no remorse for any of his actions.

Previously: A (Probably Drunk) Tesla Driver Parked Their Car In the Middle of Alta Plaza Park

56-Year-Old Jeffrey Jones (pictured) of Sacramento was arrested earlier this week after he tried to hunt a moving vehicle with a spear. Judging by his Encino Man mugshot, the suspect may have mistaken the car for a buffalo.

Sacramento Police arrested Jones around 7:30 p.m. after he was spotted standing in the middle of the road near the intersection of Auburn Boulevard and Annadale Lane on the northwest side of the city. Jones' hunting grounds were across the street from 83 acres of wilderness in Del Paso Park and just a few hundred yards from Interstate-80, which we've heard is a fertile car hunting ground.

Jones didn't manage to bring down the internal combustion beast with his spear, but he did wound it pretty badly: the spear got stuck in a front fender. Jones was booked for suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, and we're still not sure if this is actually the plot of a GEICO commercial.

[SacBee]
[AP/CBS]