Tesla Driver Faces Manslaughter Charges After Fatal Texas Collision Inside a Home
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is conducting a separate investigation into the matter.
A driver operating a Tesla Model 3 has been charged with manslaughter following a fatal crash into a home in Texas that resulted in the death of an elderly woman. This charge was confirmed through a criminal complaint submitted by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred last month when Michael Butler was using the Full Self-Driving feature of the Tesla Model 3 during a DoorDash delivery. It was reported that he accelerated and disabled the self-driving mode, leading to a high-speed crash in Katy, Texas, which killed Martha Avila. According to the complaint, just days after the incident, Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s vice president of AI, noted on social media that Butler manually pushed the accelerator to its limit, reaching a speed of 73 mph at the moment of impact.
The Sheriff’s Office noted that investigators obtained written permission from Butler to search the Tesla and his mobile phone. The complaint also revealed that multiple searches related to Full Self-Driving were discovered on his phone, such as inquiries about the model’s aggressiveness in driving and various critiques of the system’s performance.
Butler is currently detained in the Harris County jail with bail set at $150,000. In addition to the criminal charges, Avila’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against both the driver and Tesla, accusing the latter of flawed design and the former of negligent behavior. Furthermore, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has initiated a special investigation into Tesla, building on previous inquiries concerning its Full Self-Driving technology.
