Police Stop A Sleeping Driver In A Tesla Full Of Drugs

Officers tried to stop the vehicle for almost a mile before pulling in front of it to get the Autopilot system to stop.

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Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Sep 3, 2024 at 9:30am ET

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Police were alerted about a driver sleeping behind the wheel of a Tesla going down the highway in North Carolina.
They stopped the Tesla on Autopilot by positioning the police car in front of it to get it to stop.
The driver was carrying over $100,000 in drug-laced vape pens and was arrested for possession with the intent to sell.

Over the years, we’ve heard of countless cases of people sleeping at the wheel of their Teslas with either Autopilot or Full Self-Driving enabled. We’ve even seen a few cases where the driver wasn’t even in the driver’s seat while the car was driving itself on the highway. However, this has to be the strangest such occurrence that we’ve ever heard of.

According to CBS 17 News, the police in Johnston County, North Carolina, were alerted about a driver sleeping at the wheel of a Tesla going westbound on Highway 70. They tried to pull the car over for over a mile, but since the driver had dozed off, it didn’t work. They then positioned one of the squad cars in front of the Tesla, which forced its automated driving system (we don’t know if it was just Autopilot or Full Self-Driving) to slow down and eventually come to a halt.

This is only part of the story. Once they managed to get the Tesla to stop, they woke up the driver, whose name is Michael Goodman, gave him the standard field sobriety test, and proceeded to search the vehicle. What they found was a massive haul of drug-laced vape pens worth over $100,000.

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The local police chief from Willson’s Mills made a public comment about the sleepy Tesla-driving drug dealer, saying “I’ve been in this business for a long time and you think you’ve seen it all. Mr. Goodman was sound asleep behind the wheel for over a mile after officers encountered him. There is always something new.”

Mr. Goodman was arrested and charged with reckless driving, failure to heed emergency lights and possession with the intent to sell for three different drugs. He was later released after posting bail at $50,000.

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When you put your U.S.-spec Tesla on Autopilot, it will prompt you periodically to nudge the wheel to know that you’re still alert. It will then sound audible alarms and if the driver still isn’t responsive, it will try to pull over and put on the hazard lights. The sleepy drug dealer may have had one hand on the wheel, which could have tricked the car into thinking he was awake.

Tesla added extra measures to make sure drivers remain alert even with Autopilot enabled after dozens of reported cases of people sleeping at the wheel and relying on the car to do the driving. This cost some drivers their lives and today Tesla is actively trying to cull this practice, so it’s interesting how the drug dealer’s car didn’t stop after determining that he was unresponsive. It also prompted a federal probe into Tesla’s self-driving tech, which is still ongoing.