PIEDMONT — Alcohol, drugs and excessive speed caused the fatal Cybertruck crash last year that killed three recent Piedmont High School graduates, according to a California Highway Patrol investigation.
Soren Dixon, 19, Krysta Tsukahara, 19, and Jack Nelson, 20, all died in the Nov. 27 wreck. A fourth person survived.
The Piedmont Police Department released the latest update in the CHP’s investigation late Friday afternoon, and PPD spokesperson Cpt. Chris Monahan said his department would not be holding a press conference or interviews about the latest update as other agencies continue to investigate the deadly crash.
The triple fatality happened at 3:08 a.m. when the Tesla Cybertruck driven by Dixon collided with a tree on Hampton Road between Seaview and King Avenues. A smartphone alert notified police of the collision and was shortly followed by a 911 call.
A motorist trailing the Cybertruck prior to the crash was able to rescue one passenger from the vehicle. According to police, the vehicle was “fully engulfed in flames” when officers arrived at the scene and “(e)fforts to rescue the remaining passengers were unsuccessful.”
Piedmont Fire crews arrived at 3:16 a.m. and attempted to snuff out the fire inside the vehicle and to get access to Dixon, Tsukahara and Nelson, but they were unable to do so on time. Paramedics treated the rescued passenger, who went by ambulance to a hospital.
The Alameda County Coroner’s Office ruled that Dixon, Tsukahara and Nelson all died of asphyxiation from smoke inhalation and from the severe burns they suffered. The coroner’s report also found Dixon was intoxicated while driving the Cybertruck with 0.195 alcohol concentration — more than 20 times the legal limit for someone under 21 — and 180 nanograms of cocaine and 55 nanograms of methamphetamine per milliliter of blood.
The CHP investigation states that reckless driving and substance use were the main contributors in the deadly crash, and the Piedmont Fire Department ruled out the Cybertruck’s battery as the source of the fire in the crash.
However, Piedmont Police Department, CHP’s special investigations unit and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the event.
The deadly crash adds to the growing list of dangerous incidents involving Tesla’s Cybertruck since its release on Nov. 30, 2023. NHTSA has issued seven recalls and authorized two investigations of the 2024 Cybertruck since its release on Nov. 30, 2023. The first recall affected 2.2 million Cybertrucks for small font on warning labels.
More serious faults have been the subject of recalls in the past year. In April 2024, Tesla recalled nearly 4,000 vehicles for a faulty accelerator pedal that could become stuck. In November 2024, NHTSA issued a recall for up to 2,431 vehicles for an inverter fault that may cause the loss of drive power. And in January, another recall was issued for as many as 696,281 vehicles due to a glitch in the tire pressure monitoring system, which may not alert drivers to underinflated tires, increasing the likelihood of a crash.
The Piedmont crash is the second fatal accident involving a Tesla Cybertruck following an incident in Chambers County, Texas, in August where a Cybertruck veered off a road, burst into flames and left its driver dead, according to the Texas media outlet KHOU 11.