Texas law enforcement sues Tesla as Model X on Autopilot slams into 5 cops

A disgruntled group of Texas law enforcement personnels are suing Tesla following an unfortunate incident that happened on Monday. The lawsuit follows, after one of Tesla’s Model X on Autopilot, crashed into five officers of the Texas Police Department. The suit was first reported by KPRC 2 in Houston.

According to eye witness reports, the crash reportedly took place in Splendora, a small town in Montgomery County. From the lawsuit, it was gathered that the Model X SUV slammed into no less than 5 police officers while they were discharging their duties in a traffic stop on the Eastex Freeway, Texas. The lawsuit also confirms, that all officers involved were badly injured.

Now the plaintiffs have put forward their claim, stating that Tesla is fully aware of its product’s defects, but is insistent on paying no attention to correct those defects, hence, the reason it must take full responsibility for the crash. According to their argument, Autopilot failed to detect the officers’ cars, or to even try in any little kind of way to avoid the unfortunate incident that eventually happened.

The plaintiffs did not stop there however, they cited at least, 12 other similar incidents. And as it so happens, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating 12 other crashes like this, where all of those incidents involved a Tesla vehicle on Autopilot crashing into stationary emergency vehicles, and resulting in 17 injuries and one death.

The lawsuit also included several tweets of Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, commenting on crashes involving Autopilot and other similar incidents in the past. They say that is enough evidence that the company is aware of these defects, but has failed to address them.

Texas law enforcement officers also sue a local restaurant owner

The officers filing the lawsuit are leaving no stone unturned in the wake of the crash as they are also suing a local restaurant owner. With claims that the driver of the Model X has had one too many alcoholic drinks before the incident, the officers are seeking damages for injuries sustained, and permanent disabilities. The lawsuit lists damages to the tune of over $1,000,000, with maximum damages not exceeding $20,000,000.

Recall that this is not the first time Tesla is being hit with lawsuits regarding crashes like this. Back in 2019, the family of a 50-year-old man, Jeremy Banner, sued Tesla when the man died in a crash that happened while he was using Autopilot. Earlier in that same year, the company was also sued by another family of 38-year-old Wei Huang, who died the previous year when his Model X derailed, and crashed into a divider, also with Autopilot on.