‘VERY JOLTING’

Tesla Driver Dead After Slamming Into Fire Truck in California

It was unclear if the vehicle’s autopilot feature was engaged.

A Tesla driver was killed and the vehicle’s passenger badly injured when it crashed into a fire truck on a Northern California freeway on Saturday, authorities said. The truck had been parked on the road to shield a crew clearing the site of another accident just before 4 a.m. When the Tesla hit the rig, it was “very jolting,” Contra Costa County Fire Captain Chris DeMeo said. “It didn’t feel like it was real. All my equipment went forward.” The car’s driver was pronounced dead at the scene; the passenger was extricated and transported to a local hospital with “major” injuries, the California Highway Patrol said. Four firefighters inside the rig with their seatbelts on at the time of the crash were released with minor injuries after evaluation at a hospital, officials said, according to Reuters. “We were treated for lower back pain, one of my guys had a cut in the hand,” DeMeo said. It was not immediately clear if the Tesla’s autopilot feature was enabled at the time of the collision, the California Highway Patrol said.