Man Charged With Firebombing Street View Cars in Attacks on Google
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Version 0 of 1. A California man who told the police that “Google was watching him” has been charged in a series of attacks on the company after he was accused of firebombing two Street View cars and shooting at the windows of a building. According to a criminal complaint filed on Friday, the man, Raul Diaz, 30, of Oakland, was arrested on Thursday during a traffic stop. A device that could be made into a pipe bomb was found in his Volkswagen S.U.V. Mr. Diaz told two agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that he had committed the attacks on Google because he believed the company “was watching him, and that made him upset,” according to the affidavit. The document says he specifically mentioned Larry Page, the chief executive of Google’s parent company, Alphabet; as well as Facebook. Mr. Diaz said that he had planned to shoot another Google building on the day he was arrested, according to the complaint. He was charged with one count of felony arson. A bureau spokeswoman would not elaborate on the complaint or comment on whether he would face other charges. Mr. Diaz’s lawyer, Varell Fuller, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. The attacks and the arrest were reported by The San Jose Mercury News. On May 19, an employee at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., called 911 and said a man had thrown two beer bottles at a Street View vehicle, causing the area under the vehicle to burst into flames. On June 30, police officers found what they said could be bullet holes in the windows of another Google building after a witness heard several “popping sounds.” There was “an unknown white powdery substance around the holes,” the complaint said. The substance was delivered to the Santa Clara County crime lab, which has not yet announced the results of its analysis. Days later, surveillance video caught a man setting another Street View vehicle on fire. The complaint said that a gray S.U.V. like the one Mr. Diaz was driving at the time of his arrest was at the site of all three attacks. Google’s Street View vehicles are equipped with cameras that take still photos and videos, creating panoramic views of streets all over the world. The feature has caused trouble for Google in the past. In 2013, the company settled a case brought by 38 states, admitting that it had violated the privacy of users during the project by taking their personal information without their knowledge. |