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Journalists Trespass, Assault Tesla employees at the Gigafactory

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I can see it now:

"It was an accident..."
"We didn't mean to hit them..."
"We were just trying to leave as they had requested but they jumped in front (and behind) of our vehicle..."
"We're the real victims of those beastly security people at Tesla. Just what are they hiding, anyway?"
 
What I find most curious is that it was added as a blog post rather than just handled privately.

I think it's becoming an increasingly widespread problem of people trying to get into the gigafactory to track progress. There are many interests at heart here on both the good and bad side of things... I'm not even a conspiracy theorist, but I'm just stating the truth.
 
Although the trespassers are probably 100% responsible for this incident, I bet "the local media" feel that Tesla has been unreasonable in allowing access to the factory, even in the early stages of construction.

We were in the Sparks area about a year or so ago and drove to the entry gate of what we thought was the construction site. We asked if that were the case and the the guard wouldn't answer but angrily scolded us for being there, ordered us to turn around immediately and leave the area. It seemed a bit over-the-top.
 
What I find most curious is that it was added as a blog post rather than just handled privately.

That struck me too. I wonder if it's to counter anything that may come out in the RGJ? Either way, seemed a bit catty to post. Perhaps if the last paragraph were expanded on to make the point of the story to be about Tesla's property, safety, privacy and measures taken against trespassers in the future it would matter more.

This is a widespread blog post. If it's directed to trespassers at the GF, then isn't that a fairly small audience? Maybe signs around the property and an editorial in the local paper would work better.
 
I wondered that, too ... until I read RGJ's story on events. They made it sound like thug security guards & didn't own up to any responsibility. Like, say, their people were trespassing. They've got plenty of facts at hand, but somehow could only say things like 'driver of vehicle was arrested'.

I could see RGJ's story gaining legs far beyond their local audience - and assume the blog post was done to keep some balance to the story. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
 
Reno Gazette (the employer) did report the story, but zero mention of the fact they snuck onto private property, that the vehicle accelerated into people - and they just say the 'driver of the vehicle was arrested'. Of course they know who the driver is, because he works for them

The current version of the story does in fact name the photographer, who seems to be the photographer credited with most of the pictures in their prior stories. That leads one to wonder if the other person is the reporter who has written all of the stories for the paper.
 
Yeah, the newspaper story, which came out first, left a lot facts dangling there, like a window that had a rock thrown at it. The implication was that the security guards escalated things first. So Tesla decided to get their version of the story out there as well. There is a lot of information that isn't being told to us right now. With criminal charges pending, I guess that isn't unusual.
 
"A rock had been used to shatter the driver’s-side window and the driver’s-side seat belt had been cut in half."

well that's interesting too...I wonder if they [Tesla security] smashed the window and took the keys out and then physically cut the guy out and held him down to restrain him.

honestly sounds like Tesla security boxed them in and they did everything to try and escape. I'm sure they'll use a self defense argument (guards threatening them, they were scared, they were attacked, etc).
 
Reno Gazette (the employer) did report the story, but zero mention of the fact they snuck onto private property, that the vehicle accelerated into people - and they just say the 'driver of the vehicle was arrested'. Of course they know who the driver is, because he works for them.

RGJ photographer arrested after altercation with security guards near Tesla gigafactory

The story does offer physical evidence that the security guards tried to remove the men from the vehicle. The states attorney version will be interesting.
 
They didn't need to escape though. According to Tesla at least they were asked to stay put for police to arrive. Sounds like they wanted to get out of there and not get into trouble.
 
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