Michael Butler pressed on the accelerator of the Tesla Model 3 before crashing into a residential home, an investigator wrote.
Mike Blake/Reuters
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.
