Father sues Telsa after teen son killed in flaming crash

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The father of an 18-year-old Florida teen killed when his speeding Telsa slammed into a wall and caught fire is suing the company, saying the crash should have been “entirely survivable.”

Police say Barrett Riley and his 18-year-old friend Edgar Monserratt died when Riley lost control of his father’s car at 116 mph (187 kph) in May 2018. Another friend was thrown from the car and survived.

The South Florida SunSentinel reports that James B. Riley sued Wednesday in Santa Clara County, California, where Tesla is based. Monserratt’s parents filed a similar lawsuit in January. Both blame the car’s lithium-ion battery pack, which exploded when the Tesla hit a concrete wall.

A Tesla statement earlier this year said “no car could have withstood a high-speed crash of this kind.”