Three dead after fiery Tesla Cybertruck crash in Piedmont

Three Piedmont residents who were occupants in a Tesla Cybertruck were killed and another was injured early Wednesday after a fiery crash in the city, police said.

Piedmont police responded to the scene of Hampton Road and King Avenue at 3:10 a.m., two minutes after they received an alert from an iPhone regarding a crash. Once they arrived on scene, they found a Cybertruck fully engulfed in flames and observed a person pulling an individual out of the vehicle.

Police said speed was likely a factor in the single-vehicle crash, which appears to have occurred when the truck “jumped the curb, struck a cement wall, and then wedged in between the wall and a tree,” ABC-7 reported.

Police said they attempted to extinguish the fire but were unable to due to the intensity of the flames. Firefighters arrived at 3:16 a.m. to find flames twice the height of the vehicle, but they were able to extinguish the blaze relatively quickly, Piedmont fire chief David Brannigan said at a news conference Wednesday.

All four occupants of the Cybertruck were 2023 graduates of Piedmont High School and college sophomores, ABC-7 reported. 

Three of them died at the scene, police said. A motorist traveling behind the Cybertruck helped extract a fourth occupant, who was hospitalized with serious injuries, officials said. That individual’s condition was not immediately available Wednesday evening. The motorist was medically evaluated and did not require hospitalization.

“It’s good to know somebody was willing to help and they probably saved a life,” Brannigan said.

All four Cybertruck occupants and the motorist were at a “function” together before the crash, Piedmont Police Chief Jeremy Bowers said. Bowers said police are still investigating what kind of function the group had attended. 

An investigation into the crash, and whether alcohol or drugs were a factor, is underway, officials said. The crash occurred on a relatively straight stretch of road with only a slight bend, in an area that does not usually see high collision rates, Bowers said. 

Police are trying to determine why the truck caught fire. Because firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze quickly, Brannigan said, it is unlikely that the Cybertruck’s lithium battery was aflame. The fire appears to have sparked “subsequent” to the crash and no explosions were reported, he said.

Cybertrucks have made national headlines not only because of their futuristic stainless steel appearance but because since their release a year ago, they’ve been the subject of six recalls, 19 complaints and two investigations, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Tesla promotes the 6,800-pound vehicle as “dopamine on tap” because it can go from 0-60 mph is just 2.6 seconds.

The crash occurred in a residential part of the affluent city, the day before Thanksgiving.

“There is no doubt, this is going to be immensely impactful to this community,” Bowers said. “It already has been and will continue to be so.”

Piedmont officials announced that a memorial for the victims will take place on Thanksgiving Day at the city’s annual Turkey Trot event. The trot is scheduled to take place at 8:30 a.m. near Highland and Magnolia Avenues. 

A spokesperson for the Alameda County Coroner’s Office said Wednesday that it could take weeks to identify the people killed in the crash, as their remains were “not identifiable.”

Reach the writers: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com; jordan.parker@sfchronicle.com; maliya.ellis@hearst.com