Trespassing Journalists At Tesla Gigafactory Run Down Two Employees With Jeep

The kicker? Trespassing at the Gigafactory is far from new.

Tesla’s gigafactory has attracted a lot of attention. Understandably, there’s lots of interest in the facility, which is under construction in the outskirts of Reno. The two individuals were later identified as RGJ employees.

The sheriff’s department arrested one of the two for assault with a deadly weapon, and “advised that both would be charged with trespassing”. Barron, who then reportedly tried to drive away from the guards is quoted as having “either hit or nearly hit one or more of the security officers”, by the Storey County Sheriff Gerald Antinoro. “Disregarding this request, the RGJ employees entered [their company Jeep]”.

The Jeep, which belonged to the newspaper, was damaged during the incident.

Its version of events are noticeably different to those of the newspaper.

After locating the two trespassers, the Tesla employee approached them. They also refused to dislose their identities, however, they were ID’d through their pockets stating they were from Reno Gazette Journal (RGJ).

The two people also denied that they had been trespassing, but Tesla says that it would be impossible to get into the site without climbing through a fence that had “private property” signs attached to it.

Here however is where the two stories really diverge. They were met at the vehicle by a second Tesla safety manager and asked to wait as Tesla security personnel and the police were en route to the scene. While the Tesla security guard was recording the license plate number, the driver accelerated into reverse, striking the Tesla employee.

“As the RGJ employees fled the scene, their Jeep struck the ATV that carried the two safety managers”. As security guards approached in an all-terrain vehicle, the jeep hit it, and when one guard approached them, the jeep accelerated and hit him in the waist.

Tesla, run by the eccentric billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, is building what it calls a “gigafactory”, which will enable mass-production of the enormous lithium-ion batteries used in its cars.

A few news outlets aren’t as careful about obtaining their images.

Tesla complained that the Gigafactory site had seen “repeated acts of trespassing”, which it said were “illegal, risky and [need] to stop”.

“(W)e 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”, they concluded.

The under-construction Gigafactory has been a focus of local and national media coverage.