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Elon Musk wrote several mails to the father of a teenager who was killed in a Tesla car crash nearly four years ago. This has been revealed by the record filings shared by a local court in the U.S.
Going beyond the customary sympathy and condolences, through these mails the Tesla CEO even updated the victim’s father about the new speed limiting safety feature that was launched in 2018.
Musk had apparently written these mails to the victim’s father spanning across four weeks in the aftermath of the accident of the teenager. The name of the deceased teenager was Barret Riley. Riley was driving his father’s Tesla Model S on May 8, 2108, when he suddenly lost the control of his Tesla car and crashed into concrete wall of a house in Fort Lauderable, Florida. The car was engulfed with flames immediately following the crash and Riley died on the spot.
After few days following the fateful accident, Musk wrote the first mail to Barret Riley’s father James Riley and asked whether he would like to personally talk to him. “there is nothing more painful than losing a child.” While Riley probably appreciated Musk’s heartfelt condolences but he declined to have any personal talk with Tesla CEO.
Musk further wrote “I understand. My first born son died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat.” The talismanic entrepreneur was referring to his son Nevada Alexander who died when he was only 10 weeks old.
Musk had already gone out of the way to comfort the grieving father, but he decided to go one step further. He went as far as fulfilling James Riley’s request of introducing a feature in the Tesla car that would make it easier for parents to control the maximum speed of Tesla car.
Musk’s heartfelt mails to the father of the Tesla crash victim shows his uncharacteristic side, showing his sympathetic and more human side. This is in sharp contrast to his popular image of he being brash, arrogant and at times insensitive. No where is this more visible than on Musk’s personal Twitter handle, a place where he has been involved in innumerable spat and his scores of controversial tweets often sending his investors, fans and detractors on a tailspin.
However, today the world would be happy to know that there is much more mellow side to the world’s richest man.
