Police can't confirm DVD was playing in fatal Tesla crash

A spokesperson with the Florida Highway Patrol disputed reports that Tesla Model S driver Joshua Brown was watching a movie at the time of his fatal crash.

By Brandon Turkus
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 23: The Tesla is displayed on the front of a Tesla Model X on February 23, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Tesla shares dropped over 5 percent on Thursday after a mixed fourth quarter earnigns report. The electric car company reported better-than-expected revenue of $2.28 billion compared to a projected estimate of $2.2 billion. The earnings were up 88% year over year, but well below the previous quarter's growth of 145%. The company also reported a per-share loss minus items of 69 cents. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 23: The Tesla is displayed on the front of a Tesla Model X on February 23, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Tesla shares dropped over 5 percent on Thursday after a mixed fourth quarter earnigns report. The electric car company reported better-than-expected revenue of $2.28 billion compared to a projected estimate of $2.2 billion. The earnings were up 88% year over year, but well below the previous quarter's growth of 145%. The company also reported a per-share loss minus items of 69 cents. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Despite an eyewitness report, police investigating the first fatal accident involving an
autonomous vehicle say neither the portable DVD player or laptop found in Joshua Brown’s
Tesla Model S were running after he crashed into a semi-trailer.


Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant Kim Montes
told CNBC that investigators did find both devices in the vehicle, but said they didn’t know if Brown (shown above) was interacting with either item at the time of the wreck. It’s also not clear if the wreck damaged either device beyond
repair, which would make it impossible to tell if they were running when Brown hit the semi’s trailer. Sgt. Montes added that the
Model S did have a
laptop mount, but that Brown’s laptop wasn’t fitted to it at the time of the accident.


Sgt. Montes’ statements sound
contrary to the account of Frank Baressi, the truck driver
Brown crashed into in early May. The 62-year-old trucker claimed Brown was “playing Harry Potter on the TV screen” and that it “was still playing when he died.”


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