Samuel Tremblett pleaded with a 911 operator to be rescued from his burning Tesla Inc. Model Y SUV after a crash in October: “I can’t get out, please help me.”
The transcript of the 20-year-old’s emergency call was included in a filed Wednesday, the latest to allege that a driver or passenger died after they were unable to open the electrically powered doors on their Tesla vehicle after a crash.
“It’s on fire. Help please,” Tremblett said, according to the lawsuit. “I am going to die.”
Details of the crash were previously reported by Bloomberg News as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the hazards of electric door systems, which can fail and trap occupants inside vehicles, particularly after a crash. The reporting uncovered at least 15 deaths in a dozen incidents over the past decade in which occupants or rescuers were unable to open the doors of a Tesla that had crashed and caught fire.