One person was killed early Saturday when their Tesla crashed and hit a tree at Ygnacio Valley Road and N. Main.
The crash was reported at 2:44 a.m. with the car catching fire and burning, the driver trapped inside.
Police quickly closed off the area and coroner’s deputies moved in to recover the driver after dawn Saturday. The deceased was subsequently identified as Antonio Campbell, 46, of Antioch.
Just another bad example when a car’s accessory (12-volt) battery is compromised via collision, the electric door latches cease to work. The driver then unfortunately can be trapped and immolated. The lack of
mechanical switches in these cases (I know they have manual overrides, but in all likelihood, folks that know either panic, or passengers simply don’t know) can be deadly. Like the kids in the Cybertruck over Thanksgiving.
Hopefully he was unconscious as soon as his car hit that tree. Condolences to this person‘s family and friends.
He really hit that tree. Another terrible crash in that area.
Unfortunately, I was the one who saw and reported the crash. I couldn’t tell what happened to cause him to veer into the tree. There were no other cars or obstructions on the road. I was waiting to turn left from N. California to Ygnacio Valley Rd when he went by and I heard the high impact crash to my right @100 feet down the road and immediately called it in and then tried to smash a window to help get him out. Another person pulled up and tried to get him out, too, but the door wouldn’t open and he was jammed in pretty good. I don’t think he was conscious. First responders got there within minutes but couldn’t get him out on time. So sad.
Thanks for the post, Jim, and for trying. Was the car on fire when you got to him?
I was there within seconds of the crash and it was just a little flame in the beginning. It took a couple minutes before the full engine really caught fire so when I was trying to break the window, it was somewhere in between those two points.
Again, good of you to try and help. Tough thing to see, we know.
How sad. But you were brave to try.