- Reaction score
- 1,678
An Oakland, California, man now faces federal arson charges after he was accused of separate instances of throwing Molotov cocktails at Google Street View cars and other vehicles parked near Google headquarters.
No one was injured in the attacks, but one of the cars involved was destroyed. According to the criminal complaint against Raul Diaz, this was a self-driving car, but a Google spokesperson told Ars the damaged vehicle was not self-driving. (We're awaiting further clarification).
According to an affidavit written by Michael Nuttall, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the attacks began in May. The Mountain View Police Department first responded to a reported incident of arson at a Google building on May 19, 2016. There, two broken Blue Moon beer bottles were found, one with the wick still intact. A Street View vehicle appears to have been targeted, but it was undamaged.
On June 4, 2016 at about 10:30pm, another Google employee reported gunshots at a building near where the first incident took place. Six days later at around 2am, police again responded to an arson—and found a car that had been destroyed by fire.
Another 11 days later on June 15, Google security, police, and ATF officials met to discuss the case, and they were able to identify a common vehicle seen in security footage from all of the incidents: a 2004 or 2005 Volkswagen Touareg.
Read more here. (Ars Technica)
No one was injured in the attacks, but one of the cars involved was destroyed. According to the criminal complaint against Raul Diaz, this was a self-driving car, but a Google spokesperson told Ars the damaged vehicle was not self-driving. (We're awaiting further clarification).
According to an affidavit written by Michael Nuttall, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the attacks began in May. The Mountain View Police Department first responded to a reported incident of arson at a Google building on May 19, 2016. There, two broken Blue Moon beer bottles were found, one with the wick still intact. A Street View vehicle appears to have been targeted, but it was undamaged.
On June 4, 2016 at about 10:30pm, another Google employee reported gunshots at a building near where the first incident took place. Six days later at around 2am, police again responded to an arson—and found a car that had been destroyed by fire.
Another 11 days later on June 15, Google security, police, and ATF officials met to discuss the case, and they were able to identify a common vehicle seen in security footage from all of the incidents: a 2004 or 2005 Volkswagen Touareg.
Read more here. (Ars Technica)
