Tesla driver dies after car crashes through fence, then plunges into pond in California
It’s too soon to know if the Tesla’s semi-autonomous autopilot mode was engaged when the crash occurred, authorities said
Authorities in the San Francisco Bay area in northern California are investigating the death of a man after a Tesla he was driving veered off a road, crashed through a fence and plunged into a pond. It is unknown if the vehicle was in autopilot mode.
The driver’s speed in the 35mph zone was not yet known, but “it was great enough to leave the roadway, hit a fence, keep going down an embankment and into a pond on the property,” California Highway Patrol spokesman Daniel Jacowitz said.
The driver was identified as Keith Leung, 34, of Danville, California, said Sergeant Ray Kelly, spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s office.
Rescuers pulled the submerged car, a Tesla Model S, from the pond early Monday and found the man’s body inside, Jacowitz said.
Kelly said it was too soon to know if the vehicle’s semi-autonomous autopilot mode was engaged when the crash occurred or whether the driver was speeding or intoxicated.
Photographs of the car show that its back end was destroyed, its hood crumpled and windows shattered.