A Castro Valley resident was charged Thursday for allegedly slashing the tires of 17 Waymo robotaxis in San Francisco between June 24 and June 26, in response to the town’s district legal professional.
Prosecutors say the tire slashings have been captured by cameras put in on the outside of Waymo’s robotaxis. That is the most recent incident of Waymo vandalism within the Bay Space, the place some residents have expressed frustration with the autonomous automobiles.
San Francisco has a historical past of revolting towards robotaxis extra broadly. In February, a crowd of individuals within the metropolis’s Chinatown neighborhood dedicated one other act of robotaxi vandalism by setting a Waymo automobile on fireplace. Roughly a 12 months in the past, different robotaxi haters positioned site visitors cones on prime of autonomous automobiles, a hack that disabled the automobiles.
This time round, Waymo’s expertise appears to have caught one in every of these alleged crimes on video. In an electronic mail to TechCrunch, Waymo mentioned the San Francisco Police Division reviewed footage from the Waymo automobiles’ exterior cameras so as to determine the suspect.
“We will verify that expenses have been introduced towards the person who aggressively vandalized numerous Waymo automobiles, some with riders current,” mentioned Waymo spokesperson Katherine Barna in an electronic mail. “Waymo can also be taking steps to recuperate the damages sustained, and mitigate the potential for future occasions.”
Prosecutors allege these tire slashings, which occurred within the metropolis’s Tenderloin neighborhood, are linked to a different case of robotaxi vandalism within the metropolis’s information. In that case, the suspect Ronaile Joshua Burton is alleged to have approached a three-car caravan of Waymo automobiles and stabbed a knife into their tires throughout the identical time interval.
“I want to thank the San Francisco Police Division for his or her cautious investigation on this case,” mentioned San Francisco District Legal professional Brooke Jenkins in a press launch. “The destruction of different individuals’s property won’t go unaddressed in San Francisco. Individuals who vandalize property have to be held accountable for his or her actions.”
Burton has pled not responsible to all 17 expenses. The harm to every automobile is estimated at greater than $400. Prosecutors positioned the suspect in custody with no bail whereas awaiting trial, citing the “public security danger” they pose. Her courtroom date is ready for Friday, July 12.
Deputy Public Defender Adam Birka-White, who’s representing Burton, mentioned in an announcement that his consumer is in want of assist and never jail. The general public defender’s workplace intends to aggressively combat these expenses, he mentioned in a broader assertion that additionally criticized the District Legal professional’s workplace for prioritizing the punishment poor individuals on the behest of companies.
Waymo says it fastidiously critiques any requests from regulation enforcement earlier than handing over its automobiles’ movies. The corporate says it challenges, limits or rejects requests that shouldn’t have a sound authorized foundation or are overbroad, and has achieved so up to now.
The San Francisco District Legal professional’s workplace declined to remark additional.
Correction: This story initially misstated the residence of the suspect. They stay in Castro Valley. The article has additionally been up to date with an announcement from Burton’s legal professional, Deputy Public Defender Adam Birka-White and clarifies that Burton makes use of she/her pronouns.
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