Tesla Crash Victim’s Autopsy Shows Alcohol Above Legal Limit
- Drinking role in crash unclear, NTSB probing all aspects
- Model S outside Houston was traveling at ‘high rate of speed’
The Tesla owner killed along with a friend last spring in a fiery crash outside Houston had almost twice his state’s legal limit of alcohol in his system, an autopsy report obtained by Bloomberg News shows.
The gruesome deaths of anesthesiologist William Varner, 59, and Everette Talbot, 69, in the wealthy neighborhood of The Woodlands on April 17 drew widespread attention because first responders found the driver’s seat was unoccupied. Initial comments from local police said that “no one” was driving, which generated news headlines about a “driverless” Tesla and speculation on whether the Autopilot driver-assistance system on Varner’s car was engaged at the time of the crash. Tesla shares fell the next trading day and two federal agencies -- the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board -- launched probes.