diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/MixedArrayDimensions.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/MixedArrayDimensions.java
index b971c4ee085..4c0bd66e7fa 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/MixedArrayDimensions.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/MixedArrayDimensions.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import static com.google.errorprone.BugPattern.SeverityLevel.SUGGESTION;
 import static com.google.errorprone.matchers.Description.NO_MATCH;
+import static com.google.errorprone.util.ASTHelpers.enclosingClass;
 import static com.google.errorprone.util.ASTHelpers.getSymbol;
 
 import com.google.common.base.CharMatcher;
@@ -74,7 +75,8 @@ private Description checkArrayDimensions(Tree tree, Tree type, VisitorState stat
         if (idx > nonWhitespace) {
           String replacement = dim.substring(idx) + dim.substring(0, idx);
           // SimpleCharStream generates violations in other packages, and is challenging to fix.
-          if (getSymbol(tree).owner.name.contentEquals("SimpleCharStream")) {
+          var enclosingClass = enclosingClass(getSymbol(tree));
+          if (enclosingClass != null && enclosingClass.name.contentEquals("SimpleCharStream")) {
             return NO_MATCH;
           }
           return describeMatch(tree, SuggestedFix.replace(start, end, replacement));
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/MixedArrayDimensionsTest.java b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/MixedArrayDimensionsTest.java
index f628c10a3fa..c7ded2d64f5 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/MixedArrayDimensionsTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/MixedArrayDimensionsTest.java
@@ -94,7 +94,9 @@ public void negativeInSimpleCharStream() {
         .addSourceLines(
             "SimpleCharStream.java", //
             "final class SimpleCharStream {",
-            "  int a[];",
+            "  void test() {",
+            "    int a[];",
+            "  }",
             "}")
         .doTest();
   }