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A delinquency complaint charges the driver with three counts of assault by auto in connection with the Model X crash, which occurred on Durie Avenue shortly before 6:30 p.m. Dec. 1, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Dec. 13.
The crash comes coincidentally amid a recall of two million Tesla models Y, S, 3, and X produced between Oct. 5, 2012, and Dec. 7, 2023.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the vehicles have a high-risk flaw in self-driving software that has likely contributed to an increase in crashes.
The all-electric Tesla that crashed in Closter sells for roughly $80,000.
It ran off the road and into a tree, the prosecutor said.
“An investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and the Closter Police Department revealed that the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed just prior to the crash,” Musella said.
The boy was released to a guardian pending a closed-door hearing in the Family Part of Superior Court in Hackensack, he said.
A fourth passenger was also hospitalized but apparently wasn’t injured seriously enough to warrant an additional charge against the driver.
All of the occupants attend Bergen Catholic High School, area parents said.
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