Buster

Motorist Was Watching Movie When His Tesla Crashed Into Cop Car

As his Tesla operated in autopilot mode on a North Carolina highway, a motorist was watching a movie on his phone when the vehicle crashed into a police car early this morning, investigators say.

According to police, Devainder Goli, a 66-year-old emergency room doctor from Raleigh, was traveling home just after midnight on Highway 64 when his Tesla Model S sedan struck a Nash County Sheriff's Office patrol car (which then caromed into a North Carolina State Highway Patrol vehicle).

A sheriff’s deputy and a state trooper had stopped on the highway due to a previous accident. While they were knocked to the pavement in the Tesla crash, neither was seriously injured.

A subsequent investigation determined that Goli (seen above) was watching a movie on his phone while the Tesla was in autopilot mode. Due to an assortment of cameras and ultrasonic sensors, the electric car manufacturer claims autopilot is safer than a human driver in average driving conditions.

Pictured above, Goli has been charged with a pair of vehicular law violations, including driving a motor vehicle while “viewing any television, computer, or video player.”

Goli’s damaged Tesla and the sheriff’s squad car are pictured below.

Police have not identified what movie Goli was watching when the crash occurred.