The suspect vehicle was an overdue rental car, police said, and was discovered on Bryant Street near the Embarcadero, in the city’s South Beach neighborhood.
When a tow truck arrived to retrieve the car for the rental company, Burton allegedly slashed the tires of both the car and tow truck, and smashed the windows of both vehicles. According to police, Burton then slashed the tires of five occupied vehicles along the Embarcadero.
Burton was initially arrested June 26 in connection with the South Beach incident and the first three Waymo attacks. She was released two days later without being required to post bail.
Burton was arrested again on July 3, police said, after they tied the suspect to 17 more of the Waymo tire slashings in the Tenderloin, South of Market, Fillmore, Lower Haight and Sunset neighborhoods.
Burton pleaded not guilty in San Francisco Superior Court on Wednesday.
A judge granted prosecutors’ request to keep her in custody as a potential public safety risk, and her next court appearance is set for Friday.
Burton’s public defender said they “intend to aggressively fight these charges.”
“Ms. Burton is someone in need of help and not jail, which is why our social workers are actively working to identify and secure appropriate services, as we continue to advocate for her release from jail,” Deputy Public Defender Adam Birka-White said in a statement. “The District Attorney continues to prioritize punishing poor people at the behest of corporations, in this case involving a tech company that is under federal investigation for creating dangerous conditions on our streets.”
In a statement, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins thanked police investigators.
“The destruction of other people’s property will not go unaddressed in San Francisco,” Jenkins said. “People who vandalize property must be held accountable for their actions.”
In its response to the charges, Waymo said passengers were aboard some of the vehicles targeted in June.
“Waymo is also taking steps to recover the damages sustained, and mitigate the potential for future events,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “… We appreciate the efforts of SFPD and others involved for their work in finding the perpetrator and helping to keep our community safe.”
Autonomous taxis in San Francisco have been occasional targets for protests and occasional vandalism since state regulators gave permission last year for the services to operate 24/7 throughout the city.
Concerns about the safety of the autonomous vehicles and their sometimes unpredictable behavior — wandering into emergency response scenes and construction sites, for instance — came to a head last fall when a Cruise vehicle ran over and dragged a pedestrian who had been struck by a human driver in downtown San Francisco. Cruise subsequently lost its state-issued operating permits after allegedly misleading regulators about the severity of the crash.
In one largely non-destructive episode of monkeywrenching last year, traffic safety activists disabled many of the robotaxis by placing traffic cones on their hoods.
