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PIEDMONT, Calif. (KRON) — Minutes before a Tesla Cybertruck filled with college students crashed and burst into flames in Piedmont, one of the high-tech vehicle’s 360-degree cameras recorded an image of the victims.
The image shows one of the four victims holding a “half-gallon” bottle containing a clear liquid, a California Highway Patrol investigation report states.
The CHP released its full investigation report Wednesday in response to local affiliate KRON’s public records request.
A combination of alcohol intoxication, drug impairment, and unsafe speeds caused the driver, 19-year-old Soren Dixon, to crash on Nov. 27, 2024, according to CHP investigators.
Dixon, Jack Nelson, 20, and Krysta Tsukahara, 19, were trapped inside the mangled, burning 2024 Cybertruck on Hampton Road before they died from asphyxia due to smoke inhalation and severe burns, according to an autopsy report by the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau.
Tsukahara, Nelson, and Dixon were all recent graduates of Piedmont High School who had returned home to Piedmont for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Only one passenger, 20-year-old Jordan Miller, survived because a witness used a tree branch to break a window and pull him out, investigators said.
Dixon had alcohol and cocaine in his system, and his Blood Alcohol Concentration was 0.195, according to a coroner’s report. The image of the half-gallon bottle was recorded by the Cybertruck’s camera at 3:04 a.m., just three minutes before the triple fatal crash. The bottle was carried by a young man wearing a white shirt who entered the right rear passenger seat. He was followed in by Tsukahara, who also sat in the backseat.
The report does not state whether the young man was Nelson or Miller, who were the two male passengers.
“The right rear passenger’s door of the Tesla Cybertruck shut and moments later the Tesla Cybertruck drove west on Somerset Road,” the report states. “The video ended as the Tesla Cybertruck approached Hampton Road at approximately 3:06:02 hours.” The vehicle slammed into a tree at 3:07 a.m.
Data gathered from Tesla showed the truck rapidly accelerated on residential streets to speeds between 77-84 miles per hour, the report states. Five seconds before the collision, the driver was pressing on the accelerator pedal, investigators said. The Cybertruck’s automatic braking system activated a half-second before impact.
The full investigation report was conducted by the CHP’s Golden Gate Division Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team.
A witness told CHP investigators that the college students attended a small party together at a friend’s house. After the party, Dixon was attempting to drive his friends from a house on Estates Drive to Miller’s house, the CHP report states. A second vehicle loaded with friends followed behind.
The witness was in the second vehicle. After he pulled Miller out of the burning Cybertruck, the witness heard Tsukahara screaming. “I went back to the broken window and yelled for them to try and get out. Krysta tried to come up, sticking her head from the back. I grabbed her arm to try and pull her towards me but she retreated because of the fire.”
Tsukahara, a sophomore at Savannah College of Art and Design, had only trace amounts of alcohol in her system when the crash occurred, attorneys said.
“This young woman suffered the most horrifying death one could imagine. Her death was caused by her inability to get out of the car and being consumed in the fire that engulfed the vehicle,” said attorney Roger Dreyer.
In April, Tsukahara’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Alameda County court seeking more answers about what happened. Dixon’s estate is named as a defendant in the new lawsuit. Charles Patterson, who reportedly owned the Cybertruck, is also named as a defendant.
“Krysta was a beautiful, bright young woman with her whole life ahead of her,” her father, Carl Tsukahara, wrote. “We’ve had to endure not only the loss of our daughter, and our son the loss of his sister, but we have had to suffer through the silence of those who were with her that night. Our family is seeking additional information regarding all aspects of this tragedy.”
