Overview
- A Tesla Model 3 left the roadway and crashed into a Katy, Texas, home on June 19, killing 76-year-old Martha Avila who was inside the front room.
- Harris County arrested and charged driver Michael David Butler with manslaughter; court records show he is held on a $150,000 bond.
- Investigators say they extracted the car’s event logs and phone data and found the accelerator at 100%, no evidence of braking in the final minute, and no mechanical defects.
- Avila’s family filed a wrongful-death suit seeking more than $1 million and their lawyers and prosecutors have sought Tesla’s uploaded 'collision snapshot' from the company’s servers as evidence.
- The NHTSA has opened a special crash review that could affect regulation of Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self‑Driving tools and influence how courts assign liability in partial automation cases.