Pennsylvania charges drunk driver in autonomous driving crash that killed 2 people

Pennsylvania has filed homicide charges in the case of a drunk driver who was using an autonomous driving system when her vehicle struck and killed two people.

Dimple Patel, a 23-year-old pre-med student from Philadelphia, was charged with a DUI, tampering with evidence, reckless driving, homicide by vehicle and related charges, reported local ABC News 6.

The accident occurred when Patel’s Ford Mustang Mach-E struck and killed Aktilek Baktybekov and Tolobek Esenbekov on I-95 at 3:15 a.m. on March 3.

Esenbekov was assisting Baktybekovm, whose vehicle was disabled on the left-hand side of the highway, The Philadelphia Inquirer said.

Patel’s Mustang struck one vehicle at just over 70 miles an hour, sending that vehicle careening into the disabled vehicle, which struck the two victims. A fourth car was then subsequently hit, according to the Inquirer.

At the time of the accident, Patel was using Ford’s autonomous, hands-free driving system called Blue Cruise, the Associated Press reported.

A field sobriety test and toxicology reports confirmed that Patel had the “presence of alcohol in her system at the time of the crash,” said the Inquirer, which spoke with Pennsylvania State Troopers.  

After being charged, Patel voluntarily surrendered to state police, multiple media reports confirmed. 

“I haven’t seen any evidence yet and we are still investigating the allegations, so I really can’t comment except to say that Ms. Patel turned herself in this morning as requested and is presumed innocent,” Patel’s attorney, Zak Goldstein, told local NBC News 10. “The deaths are of course a tragedy. It has been widely reported that the State Police indicated that the vehicle was in a self-driving mode of some kind, so we are certainly looking at that. We look forward to resolving this matter in court.” 

But later, the defense attorney questioned the charges, even if Patel was legally intoxicated at the time of the crash. 

“If in fact it’s a failure in a self-driving or a driving system, that may not be a homicide by DUI even if the driver is intoxicated,” Goldstein told the AP. He added that he had not seen any case law on the issue in Pennsylvania, according to the wire service.  

Goldstein also told the AP that he hadn’t read the criminal complaint yet.  

Pennsylvania police authorities, however, said that drivers must always assume responsibility to take over operation of self-driving vehicles, according to the local ABC affiliate. 

“No partially automated vehicle technology should ever be left alone to perform the driving tasks that are required to safely navigate the roads of the commonwealth,” the Pennsylvania police agency said. 

The Ford autonomous driving system isn’t meant to be fully self-driving and it’s supposed to monitor the driver to make sure they are paying attention to the road, said Ford, according to the AP. 

Ford refused a request by the Inquirer to answer questions involving the Blue Cruise system, but a spokesman said, “We extend our sympathies to those involved.” 

The National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is looking at another crash involving Blue Cruise, this one in San Antonio, said the AP. 

Both the Philadelphia crash and the San Antonio crash occurred on freeways at night, said the NHTSA.