A Tesla in self-driving mode while its owner watched a movie inside slammed into a parked North Carolina State Highway Patrol cruiser, which then struck a deputy.
On Wednesday, the highway patrol released dashboard camera footage of the Aug. 26, 2020, incident. In the video, a trooper and a Nash County sheriff's deputy were standing on the side of U.S. Highway 64 before the crash.
As the Tesla approached the officers, the Raleigh doctor inside was watching a movie on his phone will the car was in autopilot mode, Newsweek reports. His vehicle ran into the trooper's patrol unit, which then bumped the deputy before the trooper was able to pull him out of the way.
"Luckily, the state trooper pushed our deputy out of the way when he heard the tires squeal, and in an instant, we could have lost a life or several lives," Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said at the time. "It could have been very horrific."
The doctor was arrested and charged with a move-over violation and watching a TV device while driving.
