Speeding and drugs were factors in Cybertruck crash that killed 3 college students, CHP says

A combination of driving under the influence of drugs and speeding resulted in a fiery Cybertruck crash that killed three college students and injured a fourth in Piedmont last year, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Shortly after 3 a.m. on Nov. 27, a Tesla Cybertruck speeding along Hampton Road east of Sea View Avenue veered off the roadway, jumped a curb and bounced off a tree. The impact caused the truck to veer to the left, where it smashed into a retaining wall and caught fire, according to the CHP report.

Three people — Soren Dixon, 19, Jack Nelson, 20, and Krysta Tsukahara, 19 — suffered major burns and blunt-force trauma and were pronounced dead at the scene. Their deaths were caused by asphyxia due to inhalation of smoke from the car, with burns being a “significant condition” in the fatalities, according to autopsy reports obtained by The Times.

Dixon, who authorities say was driving the Cybertruck, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.195%, more than twice the legal limit for drivers of legal drinking age, according to his toxicology report.

Cocaine was also detected in Dixon’s, Nelson’s and Tsukahara’s blood, the toxicology reports show.

The CHP report does not specify whether the vehicle’s self-driving features were in use at the time of the crash.

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A fourth person, Jordan Miller, was pulled from the vehicle after the crash by a witness. Miller, 20, suffered major burns and internal injuries but survived, according to the CHP report.

The students were 2023 graduates of Piedmont High School who were home from college visiting for Thanksgiving. Dixon was a sophomore biological sciences major at USC. Nelson was a sophomore at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Tsukahara was a sophomore at the Savannah College of Art and Design, according to their families.

It is not clear what caused the Cybertruck to catch fire. The CHP’s Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team will conduct its own investigation of the crash in the coming months. That probe likely will be finished in roughly four to six months, said CHP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Barclay.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has previously investigated deadly crashes involving Tesla’s partially automated vehicles, has not opened an investigation into the crash, an agency spokesperson told The Times on Monday.

In the hours before the crash, Dixon, Nelson, Tsukahara and Miller had been at a “get-together” with some other friends, according to the CHP report. At the event, Dixon “consumed approximately eight alcoholic beverages ranging from beer and vodka,” the report states.

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After leaving the gathering, the group went to Dixon’s house so he could pick up the Cybertruck. They were on their way to Miller’s house when the crash occurred. Another friend who was driving separately, a few minutes behind the group in the Cybertruck, saw the crashed vehicle and used a tree branch to break the vehicle’s right passenger window to rescue Miller.

The person tried to break the other windows to help the rest of the occupants, but the fire quickly spread through the rest of the vehicle, according to the CHP report.

Piedmont Police Chief Jeremy Bowers said at the time of the crash that dispatchers got an iPhone alert from a passenger in the Cybertruck about 3:10 a.m. The Tesla was engulfed in flames by the time officers arrived at the scene, according to Bowers.