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Charges dismissed against man accused of vandalizing Teslas with anti-Musk stickers in Brookline
Several Tesla drivers reported acts of vandalism prior to the man’s arrest, including one driver who sent in a video of their confrontation.
A Brookline judge dismissed charges last week against a Roslindale man who was arrested earlier this year for allegedly vandalizing Tesla vehicles in Brookline, court records show.
Harrison Grant Randall, 40, was charged in March with six felony counts of defacing property. He was accused of tagging the Teslas with stickers of Elon Musk, the automaker’s billionaire CEO who worked closely with President Donald Trump earlier this year. He was arrested by Brookline police after several Tesla drivers reported acts of vandalism, including one driver who sent in a video of them confronting Randall.
In the video, Randall claimed that he was tagging the cars as a form of “free speech.”
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“You guys can get a better car,” Randall can be heard saying in the video. “If you can afford that car…”
Randall’s attorney, Mark Brofsky, filed a motion to dismiss the charges in June on the grounds that there was no evidence that Randall acted with malice when tagging the vehicles, court records show. Though Randall was held after a pretrial hearing in August, his motion was later approved Oct. 15.
“No evidence was presented that Randall acted out of cruelty, hostility, or revenge,” the motion reads. “He couldn’t have as the evidence presented in the police reports does not show that the Defendant knew any of the Tesla owners involved.”
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Brofsky told Boston.com that the case “speaks for itself” and declined to comment further.
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