FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Transportation officials have released new information about a deadly Tesla crash that killed two teens in Fort Lauderdale.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the vehicle was traveling at 116 miles per hour when it crashed, killing 18-year-olds Barrett Riley and Edgar Monserratt Martinez on May 8.
A third passenger, Alexander Berry, was also inside the Tesla at the time. Berry was ejected from the vehicle and rushed to the hospital and is now recovering.
Riley and Martinez were just days away from graduating from Pine Crest School.
Video taken after the impact shows the mangled vehicle in flames.
Investigators said Riley was driving southbound along the 1300 block of Seabreeze Boulevard when he lost control of the car and hit a concrete wall. The car kept moving forward and struck the wall a second time, when it erupted in flames.
The NTSB’s report notes the car then re-entered the roadway, mounted the curb on the opposite side of the street and hit a metal light pole where it finally stopped. Firefighters noted that, after extinguishing the blaze, the Tesla’s battery reignited twice: once on the scene, and again upon arrival at the storage yard.
Three seconds before the crash, the car’s own reporting system showed the car had clocked in as traveling 116 miles per hour.
According to the report, two seconds before the initial impact, the car was traveling at 108 miles per hour before Riley started applying the brakes and attempted to steer.
The roadway has a posted speed limit of 30 miles an hour, and the approach to the curve has an advance warning sign as well as a flashing beacon advising drivers to slow to 25 miles per hour, the NTSB said.
According to a witness, he was unable to hear any engine noise prior to the fatal wreck since the car is fully electric.
“I just heard him hit the brakes and then saw him hit the wall,” he said.
Investigators said they are continuing to look into the crash and gather more information.
Pat Riley, the aunt of driver Barrett Riley, released the following statement on behalf of the family:
“We appreciate the NTSB for investigating this accident and hope more information comes forth. What is really at issue here for the family is why did these tragic deaths happen? This was clearly a survivable accident. The boys should not have died in a fire after they survived the crash without much injury. The fire killed these young men… not the accident. The fire was the problem. The fire should never have happened. Why did the electric car batteries catch fire and why was the car passenger not protected inside? That is what we want to learn.”
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