A 44-year-old Texas man, Michael David Butler, has been charged with manslaughter after a Tesla Model 3 crashed into a home, killing a 76-year-old woman. The incident occurred on June 19, 2026, in Katy, Texas.
Martha Avila was inside her residence when the vehicle collided with the house. She was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced dead. Butler, the driver of the Tesla, was also hospitalized following the crash.
According to an arrest affidavit, Butler told investigators he was making a DoorDash delivery and adjusted the vehicle's touchscreen before he "passed out." The affidavit states the car reached 73 mph, more than double the speed limit, and that the brake pedal was not applied in the minutes leading up to the collision. The Harris County Sheriff's Office reported that Butler failed to maintain a single lane before leaving the roadway and crashing through the side of the home.
Ring doorbell footage captured the vehicle striking the house at a high speed. Butler has denied feeling ill or consuming alcohol or drugs prior to the incident.
Butler was arrested on Thursday and his bail was set at $150,000. He was ordered to wear an ankle monitor and prohibited from driving.
Tesla has disputed Butler's account of the crash. The company's CEO, Elon Musk, suggested that a vehicle operating in Full Self-Driving mode would typically proceed slowly in residential areas. However, Tesla's head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, stated on X that Butler had manually overridden the system by fully depressing the accelerator pedal.
Avila's family has filed a lawsuit against Tesla, alleging that the company's gross negligence and failure to warn consumers about potential defects in its self-driving systems led to her death.