logo
Tesla found partially liable for fatal 2019 crash, Washington Post reports

Tesla found partially liable for fatal 2019 crash, Washington Post reports

Reuters2 days ago
Aug 1 (Reuters) - A jury found Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab partially liable for a fatal 2019 crash involving driver-assistance technology in Key Largo, Florida, and slapped the company with $200 million in punitive damages, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

I was on FaceTime call with my best friend when she was killed in a horror car crash – her screams will haunt me forever
I was on FaceTime call with my best friend when she was killed in a horror car crash – her screams will haunt me forever

The Sun

time2 minutes ago

  • The Sun

I was on FaceTime call with my best friend when she was killed in a horror car crash – her screams will haunt me forever

A YOUNG woman who was on FaceTime with her best pal when she was killed in a car crash says she'll be haunted by the memory forever. Ebony Neville heard tragic work colleague Stephanie Nye-Diroyan suddenly scream as the video call cut out. 9 9 9 The 21-year-old then began frantically trying to call her friend back before getting into her own car and driving along the same route, eventually coming across the crash site. Stephanie, 21, was a passenger in a BMW being driven by another work colleague, Ivan Zaliac, 24, when they ploughed into a lorry at nearly 100mph on Mollison Avenue, in Enfield North London. Ebony told The Sun: "Seconds before the phone cut out you could hear the engine revving and Stephanie's scream - then it froze on her face." She added: 'I tried to ring her back - I don't know what I was thinking had happened. 'I then got in my car and I didn't know where to go, I knew that they were in Brimsdown, in that local area, but I had no idea where.' Zaliac - who walked free from court last month after being deemed unfit to stand trial - had been giving Stephanie a lift on October 23 2022 after they finished work at nearby second hand car dealership Big Motoring World. Ebony was ill that day and Stephanie had agreed to stop off to see her on her way home when she died. The crash happened at 7.54pm. 'It was literally a quick call,' explained Ebony. 'She worked that day - it was a Sunday - and I wasn't in. 'It was a quick catch up, really. A catch up with a friend, that's all. She was such a good friend, she'd been non-stop checking in throughout the day - but couldn't ring me until she finished work. 'We were on the phone and then it froze on Stephanie's face, and the call cut out.' Three pedestrians injured by falling rubble as van crashes through multi-storey car park wall in UK city centre She added: 'I then rang her personal phone. I also rang Ivan's phone, both were disconnected and were being put through to voicemail.' Ebony said she waited 20 minutes and was 'still ringing during this time… just to try and find out what had happened'. She rang the police and found out there'd been a 'bad crash' in Brimsdown so 'drove around'. 'It wasn't too far from my house, it was about an 11-minute drive,' Ebony said. 'The road was blocked off. I hadn't been told who was involved in the crash or what had happened. 'I wasn't allowed to know any information.' She was then directed to The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel in the East End, where Stephanie had been taken. Holding back tears, Ebony said: 'I did everything I could that day and I wouldn't change anything. I went to the hospital… I wasn't allowed to know anything without Stephanie's mother knowing first.' 9 9 A screen shot she captured of Stephanie during the call, a few minutes before the crash, was shown in court. Ebony took to the stand to give evidence. She said: 'I was quite upset and ran out of the room immediately afterwards, and put myself together before returning.' Zailac suffers from amnesia and doesn't remember the details of what happened after suffering a brain injury in the collision and subsequent psychiatric issues. He had been ruled unfit to stand trial so the jury had to formally decide whether he did the act alleged, namely causing Stephanie's death by dangerous driving. The jury then found he did carry out the act. Judge Sarah Munro, KC, said Zailac will be supervised by a nominated social worker and the Hillingdon mental health team for two years. 'This is the only way your mental health can be restored in order for a decision to be made as to whether there are further legal consequences for you to face,' the judge said. Prosecutor Frederick Hookway told the court that the Crown intends to put Zailac on trial if he recovers. 'The objective of this order is for the improvement of the defendant's mental health not only for his own sake but for the future of these proceedings,' he said. 'The crown do intend to reinstitute these proceedings when and if appropriate.' Stephanie's mum Nicholle Diroyan sobbed as she read her victim impact statement at the Old Bailey on July 7. She said: 'The pain of losing her is immeasurable and every day without her feels incomplete.' Ebony, who now lives in Manchester, has launched a petition to try and ensure Stephanie's family get justice. 'There's been three years of constant delays and adjournments - and now we're told it'll be 2027 before we know if Ivan can even stand trial. 'It's the waiting. We're left in the dark.'. 'I feel so sorry for Stephanie's mum Nicholle - who's always at the court but then left frustrated each time.' Ebony added: 'We were told the jury returned a verdict in a record time. Quickest for death by dangerous driving for 27 years. 'Despite this clear outcome, family and friends are waiting for justice.' Referring to the two-year order, she said: 'It's a deterrent of the law, rather than an enforcement.' She added: 'That grievance, when everything is brought back up. I'm quite shaky on this call, it's traumatic to relive the tragic crash and death of Stephanie.' Ebony went on to say: 'Stephanie was the most lovely, genuine, outgoing person. She was there for her friends, she was there for her family. 'If anyone needed her, she'd message, she'd ring, she'd be there for you. To see her face in the newspaper in such a tragic way, and yet we're still yet to receive any justice, is so heartbreaking.' Stephanie had hired Ebony several months before, and was her manager before being promoted to the finance department shortly prior to her death. 'We became friends so quickly,' she said. 'The week before she died we were in Manchester and Nottingham, just enjoying ourselves. 'I was always going round to hers and picking her up or going for lunch break. 'Sometimes we'd get a takeaway into work and would be sitting there with 10 different Greggs items. She was amazing.' Ebony added: 'We believe she's looking down on us so proud of us all.' Do you know more? Email 9 9

Rail customers urge regulators to block Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern deal, FT reports
Rail customers urge regulators to block Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern deal, FT reports

Reuters

time2 minutes ago

  • Reuters

Rail customers urge regulators to block Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern deal, FT reports

Aug 3 (Reuters) - U.S. railroad customer groups have demanded regulators block or put onerous conditions on the proposed merger of Union Pacific (UNP.N), opens new tab and Norfolk Southern (NSC.N), opens new tab, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Seven associations of shippers have expressed concern the planned deal would significantly increase the power of the merged railroad to raise prices or reduce service standards, the report said. Last month, Union Pacific said it would buy smaller rival Norfolk Southern in an $85 billion deal to create the first U.S. coast-to-coast freight rail operator and reshape the movement of goods from grains to autos across the country. The two railroads are expected to have a combined enterprise value of $250 billion and would unlock about $2.75 billion in annualized synergies, the companies said. Reuters could not immediately verify the FT report. Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Previously, the transportation division of SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, said it plans to oppose the merger when it comes before the Surface Transportation Board for review. Major railroad unions have long opposed consolidation, arguing such mergers threaten jobs and risk disrupting rail service. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also criticized the merger saying the deal would push "us even further down the road of dangerous consolidation and monopoly power ... This is a hostile takeover of America's infrastructure."

White House officials defend firing of labor official as critics warn of trust erosion
White House officials defend firing of labor official as critics warn of trust erosion

Reuters

time2 minutes ago

  • Reuters

White House officials defend firing of labor official as critics warn of trust erosion

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Top White House economic advisers on Sunday defended President Donald Trump's firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, pushing back against criticism that Trump's action could undermine confidence in official U.S. economic data. U.S Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS that Trump had "real concerns" about the data, while Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said the president "is right to call for new leadership." Hassett said on Fox News the main concern was Friday's BLS report of net downward revisions showing 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in May and June than previously reported. Trump accused BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of faking the jobs numbers without providing any evidence of data manipulation. The BLS compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data. The BLS gave no reason for the revised data but noted that "monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors." McEntarfer's firing added to growing concerns about the quality of U.S. economic data published by the federal government and came on the heels of a raft of new U.S. tariffs on dozens of trading partners, sending global stock markets tumbling as Trump presses ahead with plans to reorder the global economy. "I think what we need is a fresh set of eyes at the BLS, somebody who can clean this thing up," Hassett said on "Fox News Sunday." In an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," Greer acknowledged there were always revisions of job numbers, "but sometimes you see these revisions go in really extreme ways." Critics, including former leaders of the BLS, slammed, opens new tab Trump's move and called on Congress to investigate McEntarfer's removal, saying it would undermine trust in a respected statistical agency. There was no way a commissioner could rig the jobs numbers, said William Beach, a former BLS commissioner and co-chair of the group Friends of the BLS. "Every year we've revised the numbers. When I was commissioner, we had a 500,000 job revision during President Trump's first term," Beach said on CNN's "State of the Union. "And why do we do that? Because firms are created or firms go out of business, and we don't really know that during the course of our of the year, until we reconcile against a real full count of all the businesses." Democrats and at least two Republican senators also criticized the firing. "This is a preposterous charge. These numbers are put together by teams of literally hundreds of people following detailed procedures that are in manuals," former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "What does a bad leader do when they get bad news? Shoot the messenger," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor on Friday. The firing came amid a flurry of economic upheaval last week. Just hours before the tariff deadline on Friday, Trump signed an executive order imposing duties on U.S. imports from countries including Canada, Brazil, India and Taiwan, in his latest round of levies as countries attempted to seek ways to reach better deals. Greer and Hassett said on Sunday the bulk of those tariffs are likely to stay in place rather than be cut as part of continuing negotiations. India pushed back on Trump's threats of an additional penalty if it kept purchasing oil from Russia, two Indian government sources told Reuters on Saturday. Trump imposed a new 25% tariff on Indian goods.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store