Man charged in series of vandalism incidents targeting Waymos in SF’s SOMA district

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A man who was allegedly involved in a series of vandalism incidents targeting Waymo vehicles has been charged by the San Francisco District Attorney. On Thursday, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced that Walker Reed Quinn, 45, was charged with three counts of vandalism more than $400 and one count of vandalism less than $400 with prior vandalism conviction.

The four incidents Quinn has been charged for all occurred in San Francisco’s SOMA district.

According to court documents cited by the DA, the first incident occurred at 8:52 a.m. on July 4 on the 1200 block of Howard Street. Quinn, documents indicate, dove onto the hood of a Waymo and put a cone over the vehicle’s dome/sensors.

The second incident occurred at 9:09 a.m. on July 29. Quinn allegedly damaged the tires and driver’s side mirror on a Waymo near Sixth and Mission streets. Less than half an hour later, at 9:35 a.m., he allegedly damaged the top sensor and windshield wiper or another Waymo near Sixth and Mission.

The last incident occurred at 2:40 p.m. on Aug. 11 at Fifth and Harrison streets. Quinn allegedly walked up to the hood of a Waymo that had a passenger inside at the time, yelled incoherently, and stomped on the windshield five times, damaging it. Quinn then allegedly jumped up and used both feet to stomp on the windshield, caving it in and damaging the windshield wipers.

Quinn is due to be arraigned Thursday afternoon at the San Francisco Hall of Justice. He is currently in custody and the DA will move to have him detained pending trial due to the public safety risk he poses.

Although charges have been filed, the investigation around this case remains active.