Overview
- A Tesla Model 3 driven by Michael Butler crashed through the front of a Katy home on June 19, striking 76-year-old Martha Avila inside; Avila later died and other family members were injured.
- Harris County booked 44-year-old Michael Butler on a manslaughter charge on July 2 and scheduled his initial court appearance after deputies opened a criminal investigation.
- County investigators and Tesla have provided vehicle data that Harris County says shows the driver manually overrode assistance before the crash and that no mechanical malfunction has been found so far.
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a special crash investigation and Avila’s family has filed a wrongful-death suit accusing Butler and Tesla of negligence and defects in the company’s driver-assistance systems.
- Officials are extracting the car’s event logs and reviewing surveillance video to confirm pedal inputs and system status because those records directly show whether the Autopilot features were engaged or the driver caused the crash, and the findings could shape criminal charges, civil liability and future federal enforcement.