A Texas man has been arrested on a manslaughter charge after his Tesla crashed into a home near Houston in June, killing a 76-year-old woman. Michael Butler, 44, was taken into custody on Wednesday in connection with the death of Martha Avila, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The crash occurred on 19 June in the Houston suburb of Katy. Butler was driving a Tesla Model 3 when it allegedly plowed through the front wall of Avila's home, fatally pinning her. Butler was injured in the incident but showed no signs of intoxication and has been cooperating with investigators.
Butler initially told deputies he was using the car's self-driving technology. However, Tesla's vice-president of artificial intelligence software, Ashok Elluswamy, posted on X that the driver had manually overridden the self-driving system by pressing the accelerator fully. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also described the incident as a high-speed crash.
Avila's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against both Butler and Tesla, alleging gross negligence and defective autopilot and full self-driving systems. The National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have both launched investigations into the crash.
Butler remains in custody on $150,000 bail, with a court hearing tentatively scheduled for 6 July. Texas law defines manslaughter as recklessly causing death, a second-degree felony punishable by two to ten years in prison.
