A key member of the Department of Government Efficiency was attacked in an attempted carjacking in Washington, DC, over the weekend, authorities said — and a newly-released police report sheds light on what the staffer said happened.
Elon Musk, the onetime de facto leader of the government agency, and President Donald Trump spoke out after the assault left 19-year-old software engineer Edward Coristine beaten and bloodied.
Musk, in a Tuesday evening post on X that reshared Trump’s earlier social media post threatening a federal takeover, said it was time to “federalize DC” as he shared his version of events.
“A few days ago, a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night in DC,” Musk wrote. “A @Doge team member saw what was happening, ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her.”
Business Insider obtained a copy of the incident report from the Metropolitan Police Department.
The police report says that around 3 a.m. on Sunday, MPD officers in a cruiser saw a group of about 10 young people surrounding Coristine’s car and assaulting him.
The officers quickly intervened, and the suspects started to run, according to the incident report. Police were able to stop two of them — a 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl — who they later arrested on a charge of unarmed carjacking.
Coristine told police that the group approached him and a woman, identified in the report as his “significant other,” and made a comment about taking the vehicle, the police report said.
“At that point, for her safety, he pushed his significant other” into the vehicle “and turned to deal with the suspects,” the police report said, adding that the assailants then began to beat Coristine.
The Metropolitan Police Department said in a press release that the couple was standing next to their vehicle on Swann Street when the suspects first approached, “demanded” the vehicle, and then assaulted Coristine.
The police report says that an iPhone 16 was stolen during the incident.
Coristine was treated at the scene for his injuries by emergency responders, police said.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department told Business Insider that its incident report is accurate and contains no errors.
Musk officially stepped back from his role in the Trump administration, working with DOGE, in May. Coristine still remains part of the federal government.
Coristine, who was once known online as “Big Balls,” started working at the Social Security Administration following his DOGE stint. He could not be immediately reached for comment for this story.
“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control,” Trump said in his Tuesday Truth Social post, adding, “The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs.”
The post included an apparent photo of Coristine showing him bloodied and shirtless, sitting on the ground.
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