US Tesla owner killed in fiery crash was initially driving car

The United States National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report provided the most detailed account yet of the crash, but did not answer a key question: When did the driver of the car move from behind the wheel to the back seat?

The owner of a Tesla Inc. Model S that slammed into a tree last month, who died along with a passenger, was behind the wheel when the car left his house shortly before the crash. A home surveillance camera captured the owner entering the driver’s seat before the car slowly drove away and accelerated, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Monday. Police in the Houston suburb had initially said it appeared that nobody was behind the wheel. The driver’s body was found in the back seat and another person was in the passenger’s seat after a fire.