Stanwood family sues Tesla over deadly Autopilot crash
EVERETT — A Stanwood family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla last week, alleging the electric car manufacturer is partly liable for a crash that killed a 28-year-old man in 2024.
In April 2024, a Snohomish man driving in a 2022 Tesla Model S was driving home behind a motorcyclist at Fales Road near Monroe, according to a police report. The man, 56 at the time, was driving the Tesla and reportedly looking at his cell phone after having activated his car’s Autopilot feature when he heard a bang, according to a probable cause statement written by a Washington State Trooper at the time. The vehicle lurched forward and lodged on top of a motorcyclist, according to the report.
The motorcyclist, Jeffery Nissen Jr., 28, died at the scene. The driver of the Tesla was arrested but has not yet been charged with a crime. The matter is still under review for a charging decision, wrote Portia Kaleikini, a spokesperson at a Snohomish County prosecutor’s office, in an email Tuesday.
On Jan. 8, Nissen Jr.’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla, alleging that the company failed to warn drivers of the potential dangers of its Autopilot function, and that it had “acted with gross negligence, malice and conscious disregard for public safety” by deploying and marketing its Autopilot function to drivers despite knowledge of its risks. The lawsuit also argues that Tesla advertised Autopilot in a way that overstates its capabilities and hides its deficiencies. The lawsuit names the Tesla driver, now 58, as also being partly liable for the crash.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/stanwood-family-sues-tesla-over-deadly-autopilot-crash/