To read the full article, remove the space between https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/us/tesla-autopilot-crash-texas.html ?smid=bsky-nytimes&smtyp=cur

A driver in a Tesla vehicle that was engaged in automated driver-assistance mode crashed into a house in Texas on Friday night and killed a woman inside, the authorities said.

The driver, Michael Butler, was in a Tesla Model 3 about 8 p.m. local time and operating the car “with an automated driving assistance system,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Saturday.

The crash happened in Katy, Texas, about 30 miles west of Houston in Harris County.

Mr. Butler “failed to drive in a single lane, left the roadway and struck the residence” at 1907 Blooming Park Lane, the authorities said.

His Tesla “entered through the brick residence at a high rate of speed,” and struck Martha Avila, who was inside, according to the sheriff’s office.

There’s an old adage in journalism: Just because they said it does not mean you are required to run it.

“At a high rate of speed” is one of those phrases the NYT should know to kill on sight. “Through” a brick wall and a fatality already establishes this was not a 5 mph “oops.”

Not to mention, “enter[ing] through” a wall applies only to the Kool-Aid man. One “enters” via established points of ingress. “Struck” is accurate up until the point the Tesla is inside the building.

I have no idea why the first quote opens with “failed to drive in a single lane,” as by that time, the narrative has established “crashed into a house,” and no one is wondering if the woman’s house is located on the roadway, let alone one lane thereof. “Left the roadway” is thus also unilluminating.

I also question the utility of providing the exact address for a national or even international audience. This portion of the story smells like a rewrite of local copy, which is an aroma you don’t want to be giving off at a serious paper without sourcing.

But I guess we need useless quotes, since later on:

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to inquiries on Sunday about the crash.

“We tried to get better quotes, but this is the best we could do” is not a fig leaf for shitty editing of the quotes you have.

But let’s pat ourselves on the back for the fruitless legwork:

Efforts to find Mr. Butler for comment were not immediately successful on Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether he sustained any injuries in the crash. Tesla did not respond to an inquiry about the crash and its software.

That’s raising one question and not providing three answers in a single graf while stating that the software belongs to the crash itself. As a bonus, the attempt at parallel construction produces two sentences in the passive voice with the third being active. Apparently, Tesla is also afforded more time to respond, since “immediately” is omitted only in that sentence.

Thereafter is boilerplate about Tesla’s travails with driver assistance included seemingly to pad out the story enough that it’s not a brief. Makes sense to a certain extent so that art is justified, and the scene of the crash helps to contextualize the … just kidding, we went with an undated filer of the dashboard of a Tesla on a freeway in California, presumably only linked because the roadway is also bereft of housing.

I’ve worked with first-year GA reporters who know better than this. Any editor should know better. Hell, most readers at the NYT level know better.

Anyway, it’s another “Tesla does something fatally stupid” story. I guess put it on the shelf with the rest of them.

Oh, yeah!