— The family of 28-year-old Jeffrey Nissen alleges he was killed in April 2024 due to a dangerous semi-autonomous system of a 2022 Tesla Model S.
The wrongful death lawsuit contends Jeffrey Nissen would still be alive if the Tesla was not defective, even though the Model S driver admitted he was looking at his cell phone when the crash occurred.
Washington State Patrol Crash Report
According to state investigators, the Snohomish County crash occurred at about 3:42 p.m. as 2022 Tesla Model S driver Carl S. Hunter, 56, was driving on State Route 522. In front of him was Jeffrey L. Nissen riding his 2003 Yamaha YZF-R6 motorcycle in stop-and-go traffic, traveling the same direction.
Nissen was stopped in traffic when the Tesla ran over him and his motorcycle, with the Model S resting on top of both. Mr. Nissen was pronounced dead at the scene.
A witness said the wheels of the Model S were off the ground and still spinning when the Tesla was stopped on top of Nissen and his motorcycle.
The county medical examiner’s autopsy report says Nissen died of “Traumatic Asphyxia."
A search warrant was issued for crash data from the Tesla which shows Model S driver Hunter had activated Full Self-Driving (Supervised) prior to the crash. The state patrol report notes Tesla's directions for using the feature.
"When using Full Self-Driving (Supervised), you and anyone you authorize must use additional caution and remain attentive. It does not make your vehicle autonomous. Do not become complacent."
The data show that at 3:41 p.m., the Tesla Autosteer system did not detect any hands on the steering wheel and the vehicle gave an audible warning to Hunter. The Model S driver also manually overrode the Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) speed by pressing the accelerator pedal.
Tesla's Autosteer still did not detect Hunter's hands on the steering wheel and the vehicle gave a visual and audible warning to him. The Tesla then detected a potential collision and engaged the automatic emergency braking system which tried to stop the Model S.
But the data show Hunter pressed the accelerator pedal which overrode automatic emergency braking.
The patrol report says Hunter's hands were not on the steering wheel for a minimum of one minute and 17 seconds.
Hunter called 911 and said, "I'm the driver, I'm not sure how it happened." He admitted he had drank one beer more than an hour earlier, and tests conducted by officers confirmed he was not impaired.
Mr. Hunter was arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide but to date has not been charged.
The Tesla Autopilot / Jeffrey Nissen lawsuit was filed in the Washington Superior Court for Snohomish County: Estate of Jeffery Nissen Jr., et al., v. Tesla Inc., et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Osborn Machler & Neff, PLLC.