Texas police take Tesla to court

Tesla is being sued by police in Texas

A group of law enforcement officials are suing the car company after a Model X on Autopilot crashed into five police officers.

It is the latest legal headache for the automaker as it seeks to roll out its controversial driver assistance software to more customers. And it comes as Tesla is facing renewed scrutiny over several crashes that have taken place involving Autopilot and emergency vehicles.

The crash took place February 27, 2021, in Splendora, a small town in Montgomery County in the eastern part of the state. According to the lawsuit, the Model X SUV crashed into several police officers while they were engaged in a traffic stop on the Eastex Freeway in Texas. “All were badly injured,” the lawsuit says.

Tesla is facing renewed scrutiny over several crashes that have taken place involving Autopilot and emergency vehicles

The police officers claim that “design and manufacturing defects known to Tesla” are responsible for the crash, as well as “Tesla’s unwillingness to admit or correct such defects.”

The plaintiffs argue that Tesla “failed to detect the officers’ cars or to function in any way to avoid or warn of the hazard and subsequent crash.”

The lawsuit cites several tweets by Tesla CEO Elon Musk commenting on crashes involving Autopilot or incidents of Tesla owners misusing the system as evidence that the company is aware of these defects and has failed to recall or correct them.