{"id":1517100,"date":"2026-06-22T11:04:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T16:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?guid=7f3968f5a5a730818d0f307b7a2e0102"},"modified":"2026-06-22T12:45:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:45:26","slug":"tesla-allegedly-in-driver-assist-mode-crashes-into-texas-house-woman-killed-investigators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1517100","title":{"rendered":"Tesla allegedly in driver-assist mode crashes into Texas house, woman killed: Investigators"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img src=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/06\/84912bacf6597ed7f3e8cccc5de11c33.jpg\" alt\/><figcaption>This image released by the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office shows the damage to a home after a Tesla crashed into it, in Katy, Texas, on June 19, 2026. (Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure><p><em>Editor's note:&nbsp;This story has been updated for clarity.<\/em><\/p><p>(KATY, Texas) -- A driver in a Tesla vehicle that was allegedly in driver-assist mode crashed into a Texas house Friday night, killing a woman who was inside the home, investigators said.<\/p><p>Michael Butler was traveling in his Tesla Model 3 around 8 p.m. local time in Katy, Texas, and was operating the vehicle \"with an automated driving assistance system,\" the Harris County Sheriff's office said in a statement.<\/p><p>Butler allegedly failed to drive in a single lane, left the roadway and struck the residence, according to the sheriff's office.<\/p><p>\"Butler's Tesla entered through the brick residence, at a high rate of speed, and struck M. Avila who was inside the residence,\" the sheriff's office said in a statement.<\/p><p>Avila was airlifted to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead, the sheriff's office said.<\/p><p>Investigators said Butler, who was injured, showed no signs of intoxication and he was cooperating with officers. Attorney information for the driver wasn't immediately available.<\/p><p>The investigation is ongoing and as of Saturday afternoon there were no charges.<\/p><p>Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This image released by the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable&#8217;s Office shows the damage to a home after a Tesla crashed into it, in Katy, Texas, on June 19, 2026. (Harris County Precinct 5 Constable&#8217;s Office)Editor&#8217;s note:&nbsp;This story has been upda&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8851,"featured_media":1517103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/06\/84912bacf6597ed7f3e8cccc5de11c33.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1447],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1517100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-national-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 13:24:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/06\/84912bacf6597ed7f3e8cccc5de11c33.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1517100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1517104,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517100\/revisions\/1517104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1517103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1517100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1517100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1517100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}