A Florida jury awarded $10.5 million to the families of two teenagers who died in a Tesla car accident. The lawsuit claims that the teenager survived the car crash but died when Tesla’s batteries caught fire. The father of a teenager also said that Elon Musk’s company removed the speed limiter from the car without permission.
NBC News reports that a federal jury in Florida found Tesla partially negligent in an accident that killed two teenagers in 2018, and also found one of the teens 90 percent responsible for his role in the crash.
The father of one of the teenagers, James Riley, said Tesla was responsible for the death of his 18-year-old son, Barrett Riley, because the batteries installed in the 2014 Model S sedan used by the teenagers burned out after electricity. The car crashed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, while driving about 100 mph above the posted speed limit.
Riley said Barrett and another accident victim, 18-year-old Edgar Montserrat Martinez, survived the initial collision but died after the car caught fire. Riley also said that a Tesla technician removed the vehicle’s speed limiter without obtaining permission.
Tesla said the speed limiter couldn’t prevent the crash at the speed at which teenagers were driving, and Riley wasn’t sure if the car’s battery was faulty. The jury decided that most of the blame for the crash was on Barrett, who was allegedly driving the 25-mile bend at 116 mph before the crash.
Barrett has a history of speeding and just two months before the accident, he bought a ticket to drive at 112 mph. Ninety percent of the blame was placed on driver Barrett Riley, nine percent on his father James Riley, and only one percent on Tesla. The jury awarded Riley $10.5 million in damages.
Riley’s lawyer said: “When we understood that this was the first case against Tesla to lead a lawsuit involving an accident involving one of their vehicles, the jury found that Tesla was negligent in removing the speed limiter. Riley without notifying Mr. or Mrs.
Read more about NBC News here.
Source: Breitbart
