A Texas man who drove a Tesla into a home, killing a 76-year-old woman, was pressing the accelerator pedal “all the way down” before the crash, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Harris County District Court.
On June 19, Michael David Butler, 44, crashed a Tesla Model 3 into a brick home in Harris County, Texas. 76-year-old Martha Avila, who was inside the residence, was airlifted to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead, the affidavit said.
Butler was charged with manslaughter and remains in custody at the Harris County jail, court records showed. A spokesperson for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office told Business Insider the charge carries a $150,000 bond. Butler’s attorney declined to comment.
Local authorities initially said that Butler told investigators he had Tesla’s driver-assistance system activated, though they did not specify if it was Autopilot or Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised.
Following the reports, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a probe. Tesla executives pushed back on the initial account.
Tesla’s head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said in an X post that the driver “manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area.”
A lead investigator wrote in the affidavit that he later reviewed Tesla data and video showing Bulter had been making DoorDash deliveries and activated FSD in the minutes leading up to the crash. Data showed Butler then overrode FSD and pressed the accelerator pedal moments before the fatal incident, the investigator wrote.
“In about six (6) seconds, the accelerator pedal was pressed all the way down to 100% ‘pedal to the metal,’ and the vehicle reached a speed of 73 miles per hour, more than double the speed limit on that residential street,” the investigator wrote. “The Tesla continued straight towards the middle of the cul-de-sac, struck the curb of the complainant’s driveway, and went airborne towards the front of the home.”
The investigator wrote that the brake pedal was not pressed in the final minute before the crash and that no mechanical error was detected or recorded. Harris County Sheriff’s Office said there were no signs of intoxication and that Butler was cooperative with the investigation.
A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Tesla’s driver-assistance systems, including Autopilot and FSD, have faced legal and regulatory scrutiny.
A Florida jury found Tesla partly liable for a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash and awarded more than $242 million in damages to the involved families.
Tesla has called the verdict “wrong” and filed an appeal.
The EV maker has also drawn scrutiny over how it marketed its driver-assistance tech. A California judge ruled last year that Tesla misled consumers about its cars’ autonomous capabilities through the names “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving.”
Tesla stopped using “Autopilot” when marketing the technology in California and modified “Full Self-Driving” to indicate that driver supervision is required.
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