A 27-year-old woman died after the Tesla she was riding in slammed into Midtown scaffolding during the early hours Wednesday, and the driver is now in police custody at a local hospital.
The passenger was pronounced dead at a nearby medical facility after the 2024 electric vehicle struck a mailbox around 2:43 a.m. And then careened into scaffolding outside 315 Madison Avenue, according to the NYPD. The crash occurred just before 3 a.m. As the car traveled several blocks east along East 42nd Street before finally stopping at the intersection of Second Avenue.
Both women were rushed to the hospital following the wreck. The driver, also 27, survived with injuries and is listed in stable condition, police said. She has not been charged as of Wednesday.
No identities have been released for either woman as officials work to notify their families. The investigation into what caused the driver to lose control remains ongoing, with authorities yet to determine a cause.
Pictures from the scene Wednesday morning showed the heavily damaged Tesla resting at the intersection after the multi-block path of destruction. The scaffolding strike and subsequent halt at Second Avenue capped a brief but violent trajectory through one of Manhattan’s busiest corridors at an hour when traffic was sparse.
The incident has drawn fresh attention to vehicle safety in dense urban environments, coming amid broader scrutiny of Tesla’s automated driving systems. Federal regulators recently forced the automaker to recall hundreds of thousands of vehicles equipped with its “Full Self-Driving” software over safety concerns, though police have not indicated whether any automated features were engaged during Wednesday’s crash.
The driver remains under police supervision at the hospital as detectives continue their work. The passenger’s death marks at least the second fatal Tesla crash to draw headlines this week, following a separate incident in the New York suburbs where a vehicle slammed into scaffolding near a busy intersection.
Authorities are expected to release more details once next-of-kin notifications are complete and the preliminary investigation concludes.