Texas Man Charged with Manslaughter After Tesla Hits Home
A Houston driver was arrested on manslaughter charges after his Tesla, allegedly in Full Self-Driving mode, crashed into a Katy residence, killing a 76-year-old woman.
A Harris County judge ordered 44-year-old Michael David Butler to post $150,000 bail after he was charged with manslaughter for a June 19 crash that destroyed a Katy, Texas home and killed 76-year-old Martha Avila. Butler told police the Model 3 was operating in Full Self-Driving mode and that he had been making a DoorDash delivery when he changed the music on the touchscreen and subsequently lost consciousness, according to an arrest affidavit. The vehicle was traveling about 73 miles per hour, more than twice the posted speed limit, and the brake pedal was not applied in the minute before impact. Toxicology tests found no alcohol or street drugs in Butler’s system.
Tesla representatives disputed Butler’s account. Elon Musk said a vehicle in Full Self-Driving mode “drives slowly through neighborhood streets,” and a company vice president said Butler manually overrode the system by flooring the accelerator. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continues its investigation, noting that it has opened nearly 50 special investigations into Tesla crashes involving advanced driver assistance systems since 2016, with about two dozen fatalities reported.
Avila’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Tesla, alleging the automaker’s negligence and failure to warn that its self-driving features are defective. Butler’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment, and prosecutors have not commented on the case.