Michael Butler, 44, was arrested Wednesday on manslaughter charges after his Tesla Model 3 struck and killed a woman inside her Katy, Texas home last month. Butler claims he was using Tesla's Full Self-Driving system at the time of the crash.
The arrest affidavit is the detail worth reading closely. Phone data extracted from Butler's device shows multiple FSD-related Google searches from May 2026, including queries about making Tesla FSD 'not aggressive enough,' suggesting he was actively trying to modify the system's behavior before the fatal crash.
This case puts FSD's legal liability question directly in front of a criminal court, not a civil one. The outcome will set a precedent for how prosecutors treat driver-assistance system use in fatal collisions going forward.
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