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So far, we have two wildly different accounts of the confrontation at Tesla’s gigafactory which led to the arrest of a Reno Gazette-Journal photographer.
First came the RGJ’s story on the arrest of Andy Barron on Oct. 9.
It was followed four days later by a blog post by Tesla headlined “Journalists Trespass, Assault Tesla employees at the Gigafactory.” It contains this paragraph:
We appreciate the interest in the Gigafactory, but the repeated acts of trespassing, including by those working for the RGJ, is illegal, dangerous and needs to stop. In particular, we will not stand for assaults on our employees and are working with law enforcement to investigate this incident and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
The story continues today with this story quoting a letter from the RGJ’s attorney, Scott Glogovac, saying “Tesla guards roughed up journalist.”
“This portrayal is scandalous and could not be further from the truth,” Glogovac wrote of Tesla’s recounting of the incident. Instead, Glogovac said, the security guards rammed the RGJ’s vehicle with an ATV, smashed the driver’s side window with a rock and cut Barron from his seat belt before dragging him out of the vehicle and shoving him to the ground.
I have an opinion as to which version sounds more plausible, but I may be biased.
The only evidence I’ve seen is the photo of the rock and broken glass inside the vehicle, which points to violence by a Tesla security guard. However, there was no mention of the rock or smashed window in Tesla’s account.
One thing is clear: This was a serious incident, and serious accusations have been leveled by both sides, including attempts at deadly assault.
The shame is that such a confrontation happened at all. If Tesla would be cooperative with requests from the media for tours and photos of the plant, there would be no need to try to cover it from anywhere but the front gate.
Tesla is a publicly traded company. It has accepted up to $1.25 billion in tax breaks from the state of Nevada and was the subject of a special session of the Legislature.
Construction of the gigafactory is among the biggest stories in Northern Nevada, with consequences for housing, schools, transportation and other public infrastructure. The scrutiny is warranted.
Its attempts to keep the largest construction project in the state under wraps would be laughable if not for the seriousness of the confrontation. And it all could have been avoided.