{"id":718964,"date":"2026-06-22T10:13:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718964\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T10:13:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:13:30","slug":"76-year-old-woman-killed-when-a-tesla-running-on-auto-pilot-crashed-into-her-texas-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718964\/","title":{"rendered":"76-year-old woman killed when a Tesla \u2018running on auto-pilot\u2019 crashed into her Texas home"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A 76-year-old woman was killed after a Tesla<\/a>, which the driver said was running on \u201cautopilot<\/a>,\u201d crashed into her home.<\/p>\n

Michael Butler was driving a Tesla Model 3 in Katy, Texas, on Friday evening when the car ran into a house at a \u201chigh rate of speed\u201d<\/a> and struck Martha Avila, who was inside, according to the Harris County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Avila was flown to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think her life was cut very short,\u201d her daughter Jennifer Barbour told KHOU 11<\/a>. \u201cMy mom is super generous and sweet. She was super healthy, she was 76, on no medication, nothing, had no health issues. She would have made it to 100 like my grandma.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler, who was also taken to a hospital, told police he had the car on \u201cautopilot\u201d when it crashed, according to Terry Allbritton<\/a>, Harris County Precinct 5\u2019s constable. He showed \u201cno signs of intoxication\u201d and has cooperated with investigators, the sheriff\u2019s office noted.<\/p>\n

\"AA 76-year-old woman is dead after a Tesla running on \u2018autopilot\u2019 crashed into her Texas home, police said (Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 5)<\/p>\n

It remains unclear whether he faces any charges and the investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Photos from the scene show debris scattered in the yard and a massive hole in the front of the home. Barbour told KHOU 11 she lived at the home with her husband and three children, and that the Tesla crashed into the kids\u2019 playroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy three kids were at my neighbor\u2019s when we went to the hospital to check on my mom. And then they told us they couldn\u2019t save her,\u201d Barbour said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came back and we told the kids. The kids are devastated, and we brought them back to the hotel. We\u2019ve been here since. I\u2019m still wearing the same clothes from yesterday,\u201d she added. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s his fault or the car\u2019s fault or what really happened. I\u2019ve never seen a car go that fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Tesla crashed into the kids’ playroom, Jennifer Barbour said (Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 5)<\/p>\n

The family has since launched a GoFundMe<\/a> page to raise funds for emergency living expenses and funeral costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe home is now uninhabitable and under investigation, forcing our family into temporary housing while they cope with this unimaginable loss,\u201d the page reads.<\/p>\n

The Harris County Sheriff\u2019s Office Vehicular Crimes Division is investigating the crash. No charges have been filed in connection with the incident, KHOU 11 reports.<\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted the Harris County Sheriff\u2019s Office for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-718964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}