It was on August 7 last year that it happened. The married couple were traveling on road 56 on their way from Gävleborg county to the south – when suddenly everything went wrong.
The man, who was driving the Tesla car, chose to leave the driver’s seat and sit in the passenger seat. He turned on the cruise control and autopilot which makes the car drive itself. With music at maximum volume and after several warnings from the car, the Tesla crashes straight into the center rail, something Sala Allehanda was the first to report on.
Filmed in secret
The man’s wife, who is now his ex-wife, secretly filmed the madness in the back seat. In the video, the wife can be heard screaming just before the car crashes and comes to a standstill. It was not until after the divorce that the woman dared to submit the film to the police, which was the basis of the preliminary investigation.
After the violent crash, the man called the insurance company to report the damage. Then he said the car had skidded and the wheels locked. Something the man left out was that he himself had left the wheel.
Will pay several hundred thousand
Now Sala Allehanda reports that the man is convicted of gross negligence in traffic and gross fraud. The penalty will be a suspended sentence and community service of 200 hours, but he must also pay damages of SEK 716,570 to the insurance company he lied to.
In questioning, the man believes that the reason for his risky behavior could be that his then-wife gave him a spiked drink that contained some kind of drug.