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Father of Driver In Violent Tesla Crash Blames Sedan's 'Rocket-Ship' Acceleration (autoweek.com)

"A Tesla crash that resulted in the deaths of the driver and a passenger in Indianapolis last November is drawing new controversy after the father of one of the victims made comments regarding the role of the Model S in the incident," Autoweek reports. "The crash occurred in downtown Indianapolis on Nov. 3, 2016, with the Model S driven by 27-year-old Casey Speckman striking a tree and catching fire. Speckman was pronounced dead at the scene while her passenger, 44-year-old Kevin McCarthy, succumbed to his injuries after being taken to the hospital." From the report: A report released last week by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department disclosed that Speckman had a blood-alcohol level of 0.21, almost three times the legal limit in the state of Indiana, The Indianapolis Star reports. Another new detail has emerged since the violent crash was first reported: The Tesla could have been been trying to maneuver around a vehicle traveling on the wrong side of the street, suggested by closed-circuit footage obtained by the attorney of the driver's father, Jon Speckman. The coroner's report cited blunt-force injuries caused by the crash as the causes of death for both victims, noting the vehicle's fire as a contributing factor, according to The Indianapolis Star. Jon Speckman recently made comments to the newspaper blaming the acceleration of the Tesla Model S. "Had she been in another vehicle, she would have been alive for me to yell at her for driving after drinking," Speckman told The Indianapolis Star in an interview at his attorney's office. "This is a vehicle that travels from 0 to 60 in 3.1 seconds," Speckman also said during the interview. "She's clearly having to swerve to miss a vehicle going the wrong way on a one-way street. If her foot should happen to hit the accelerator, it's like a rocket ship. I don't know why they have to make a car that does that."

4 of 641 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Uber? by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 5, Informative

    She was 3 times over the limit and the fuckwit father is blaming the car? Why is this even on SlashDot

    --

    Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  2. Re:Uber? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    To be fair, although she was drunk as shit and should have never been behind a wheel, it appears from camera footage that she was swerving to avoid ANOTHER car that was traveling the wrong way on the street.

  3. Re:Reverse logic by dcollins117 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Speckman swerved to avoid another car going the wrong way down a one way street. I would not be so quick to put all the blame on her for driving drunk.

    It doesn't work that way. In the eyes of the law and insurance companies, if you're in an automobile accident while driving impaired, you're at fault no matter the circumstances. This is why we don't drink and drive.

    In this instance we have an inexperienced woman driver, high performance sports car and the driver's BAL was three times the limit. Perfect trifecta. I feel for the guy who got in the car with her.

  4. Re: Uber? by tsqr · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why would you give a child a super car?

    Good question, and one asked by lots of commenters. Of course, no one asking this question read TFA, because if they had they would have learned that the Tesla was owned by the passenger (who was her boss), and he was nearly as drunk as the girl. So you have an extremely high-performance car being driven by someone who is very drunk, and also unfamiliar with the car. What could go wrong?