A Texas man has been charged with manslaughter after federal investigators determined he manually took control of his Tesla’s self-driving system and floored the accelerator before crashing into a Katy home and killing a 76-year-old woman inside.
,The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report Wednesday confirming that the driver of a 2025 Tesla Model 3 manually overrode the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving Supervised system by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100 percent before crashing into a home in Katy, Texas, killing a resident inside.,
,The crash occurred June 19, when the Tesla driven by Michael Butler, 44, of Richmond, Texas, veered off the road and struck a home in Katy, killing resident Martha Avila., ,Butler’s car drove into the front room of the home and pinned Avila, who was airlifted to a hospital and later pronounced dead.,
,The 2025 Model 3 was traveling at more than 70 mph on a residential street with a 30 mph speed limit in Katy, west of Houston, when it jumped the curb and tore through a brick wall., ,Surveillance video obtained by the NTSB captured the Tesla passing through a dead-end intersection without turning, departing the road, and colliding with the home.,
,According to the arrest affidavit, Butler told police he did not feel sick at the time of the crash and did not have any alcohol or drugs in his system. He said he was making a DoorDash delivery when he changed the music on the Tesla’s touchscreen and eventually passed out.,
,Police also found that Butler’s phone had Google searches including the terms “Tesla FSD not aggressive enough 2026” and “Tesla FSD too timid,” raising serious questions about how he was using the system before the crash.,
,Butler was arrested July 1 and charged with manslaughter, a felony. He appeared in probable cause court, where a magistrate set his bond at $150,000, with conditions including an ankle monitor and a prohibition on driving. He has not entered a plea and is scheduled for arraignment next month.,
,Avila’s daughter and son-in-law filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Harris County District Court against both Butler and Tesla, seeking at least $1 million in damages and alleging negligence by both parties.,
Experts are urging caution before drawing final conclusions. Carnegie Mellon University professor emeritus Philip Koopman told NBC News that ,the NTSB must also consider whether a computer or electronics malfunction caused a false accelerator pedal reading, and that any thorough investigation must weigh human driver error alongside mechanical, electronic, and software failure.,
,Despite built-in protections, multiple crashes where FSD was involved have drawn scrutiny from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA is conducting its own investigation into this Texas crash, and in October 2025, it also opened a larger investigation into Tesla’s self-driving technology.,
,The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened nearly 50 special investigations into crashes potentially involving Tesla’s advanced driver assistance technology since 2016, with roughly two dozen associated deaths reported.