NTSB Says Fatal 2021 Tesla Wreck Was The Result Of “Excessive Speed” And “Alcohol Intoxication”

A report from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board this week has found that a 2021 fiery Tesla crash was the result of the vehicle’s driver speeding and being intoxicated. The crash killed two people. 

69-year-old engineer Everett Talbot and 59-year-old Dr. William Varner were the victims of the crash which took place on April 17, 2021. The occupants were traveling in a 2019 Tesla Model S P100D which, after slamming into a tree, burst into flames. 

NTSB’s investigation concluded that the likely cause of the crash was: “the driver’s excessive speed and failure to control his car, due to impairment from alcohol intoxication in combination with the effects of two sedating antihistamines, resulting in a roadway departure, tree impact, and post-crash fire,” according to ABC. 

Recall, we wrote back in May 2021 that a close friend of one of the men who died in the Houston area fatal wreck ago said he believed the driver of the vehicle climbed into the back seat while “trying to save his own life”. We noted that when the NTSB issued their preliminary report on the wreck, they noted that “all aspects” were still under investigation. 

The report noted that:

• Footage from the vehicle’s owner’s home security system showed “the owner entering the car’s driver’s seat and the passenger entering the front passenger seat”. It has been called into question whether or not there was anyone in the driver’s seat at the time of the crash, so it appears to be too early to judge whether or not this means anything.

• It was shortly thereafter that the “car leaves and travels about 550 feet before departing the road on a curve, driving over the curb, and hitting a drainage culvert, a raised manhole, and a tree,” the report notes. 

• The ensuing fire destroyed the car’s onboard data storage device. Yes, despite the fact that Elon Musk went “all in” in proclaiming that data logs “recovered so far” showed Autopilot was not enabled in the car last month, the NTSB is now reporting that they didn’t have access to stored data inside the vehicle The report reads: “The crash damaged the front of the car’s high-voltage lithium-ion battery case, where a fire started. The fire destroyed the car, including the onboard storage device inside the infotainment console.”

Dr. William Varner – identified as one of two men who died in the accident – was in the vehicle after it caught fire. He was found by first responders to be in the back seat of the vehicle. The other occupant was found in the front passenger’s seat. 

Varner’s best friend, Bob Wortham, said back in 2021: “I’ve been going weeks without being able to sleep because I can’t get it out of my mind. It’s just horrible.”

“The reason he was in the back seat, he was trying to save his life. It was such a painful experience for the whole family,” he continued, telling a local NBC affiliate. Wortham said he believed that Varner could not get out of the car and was burned alive.

“There was a neighbor that saw and came over to see what was going on and he said the damage on the front of the car was minor damage,” Wortham said. “This car was burned so bad that they couldn’t identify either of the people by their dental records. That’s how bad they were burned.”