A California driver who struck and killed a motorcyclist when he fell asleep at the wheel of a Tesla Model S is claiming the vehicle's "new car smell" was responsible for the incident.
Navindra Kumar Jain, 63, was driving on a Santa Cruz highway in November when he somehow lost consciousness, veered into the oncoming lane and hit a cyclist while the car was at 55 mph, Autoblog.com reported.
The bicyclist, 40-year-old Joshua Alper, died at the scene of the crash.
After a three-month investigation that saw the car "torn apart," the Santa Cruz district attorney has charged Jain with "misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter," according to Autoblog.
A misdemeanor charge without gross negligence was recommended in the initial California Highway Patrol report, said the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
The defendant "feels terrible about the loss of life that occurred," his San Francisco-based attorney, Susan Harriman, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. "Unfortunately, he passed out while driving and still does not know what caused the accident."
Jain said he fell asleep, and his attorney's statement is that "he passed out while driving and still does not know what caused the accident." The CHP thoroughly examined the Tesla and didn't find any mechanical issues, according to Autoblog.
The vehicle had been purchased about 10 days before the accident, and Jain said he was using a baking soda-scented air freshener to combat the new car smell.
Besides the criminal misdemeanor lawsuit, Alper's family is suing both Jain and Tesla, saying the car was "defective and unreasonably dangerous when used in a normal, intended and foreseeable manner."
Alper is survived by his widow, Annette Marines, who describes him as a conscientious rider.
"He liked to do things right. He was a safe driver. He was careful," Marines told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
The couple wed in 2007 and had no children.
"It's hard. It's kind of a day-by-day thing," Marines said of her husband's death. "Everyone has been very supportive."
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