Lady Justice Just Took Her Blindfold Off

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On Monday, KMSP Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul posted an article about some recent vandalism of a number of Tesla cars. The Trump administration has filed federal charges against some of the people who have vandalized Tesla cars. It will be interesting to see what happens on this particular case.

The article reports:

The Brief

    • The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says it will not seek criminal charges against a 33-year-old Minneapolis man accused of damaging at least six Tesla vehicles, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
    • Minneapolis police say Dylan Adams was arrested last week. Rather than criminal consequences, Mary Moriarty’s office will seek “diversion.”
    • Adams is a state employee, a data analyst for the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

I think the statement by Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara sums up my feelings on the subject:

“The Minneapolis Police Department did its job. It identified and investigated a crime trend, identified, and arrested a suspect, and presented a case file to the Hennepin County Attorney Office for consideration of charges. This case impacted at least six different victims and totaled over $20,000 in damages. Any frustration related to the charging decision of the Hennepin County Attorney should be directed solely at her office. Our investigators are always frustrated when the cases they poured their hearts into are declined. In my experience, the victims in these cases often feel the same.”

When crimes are not prosecuted, they continue. We need to consider the attacks on Tesla dealerships and cars hate crimes and prosecute them as such. If this attack had been at a Planned Parenthood facility or the cars of the employees there, I suspect the City Attorney would have handled it very differently. Unfortunately there is no guarantee of fairness on the part of any local county attorney.