Tesla Model S involved in fatal hit-and-run was stolen hours before the crash, police confirms

A tragic accident made the headlines in California last week when the driver of a Tesla Model S crashed into several vehicles “at a high rate of speed” and finally ended up driving over a motorcycle – killing the rider. The driver left the vehicle at the scene and ran. The police are still looking for him.

The Tesla community was confused as to why they couldn’t trace him back to the vehicle – leading us to believe it was stolen, which the police has now confirmed.

After the news was shared on the Tesla Motors club forum fearing that it could be a member of the community and that they could possibly help identify him, it quickly came up that the vehicle was likely stolen.

A new user claiming to know the owner posted:

“The owner of the Tesla is a friend of mine. The car was stolen from in front of his house about an hour before the crash. The thief totaled the Tesla and three other cars as well as killing a motorcycle driver. The car was going 100 mph at the time of the accident. The thief jumped out of the car and ran and is still on the loose. Very sad.”

Sure enough, some of the articles reporting on the accident were quickly updated to mention that the police confirmed that the Model S was stolen a few hours before the fatal crash. It’s not clear at this point how the vehicle was stolen.

It marks the second report fatal accident in a Tesla Model S following the vehicle being stolen. Though the last time, it was the thief who died following a spectacular accident at high speed that resulted with the Model S being split in half.

Independently, we recently reported on several new Tesla vehicles being stolen in Europe. As we reported at the time, the Tesla Model S is not a popular vehicle with car thieves thanks to its always-on advanced GPS tracking feature. It’s something that was beautifully demonstrated when a Model S was briefly stolen in Vancouver last year and the owner gave live-instructions to the police while they were catching up with the thief.