this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
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Key Witness Who Disputed ICE Account of Fatal Texas Shooting Dies in Car Accident (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 1 month ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/usa@midwest.social
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A passenger in the car with Ruben Ray Martinez wrote that the men were trying to comply with authorities before Mr. Martinez was shot. The passenger, Joshua Orta, died in a car accident on Saturday.

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[–] Chulk@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Mr. Orta died in a fiery car crash at around 1 a.m. on Saturday when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving and struck a utility pole. The car caught on fire and Mr. Orta died before the three other people in the car, including a stepsister, were able to pull him out, Mr. Arriaga said. The crash over the weekend had no connection to the shooting last March.

According to a preliminary San Antonio police report, which did not name Mr. Orta, the person behind the wheel was driving “at a high rate of speed” when he attempted to exit the highway and lost control of the vehicle.

I want to know the make and model of the car and whether it has drive-by-wire systems.

[–] pivot_root@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

[The dad,] Mr. Arriaga got an alert on his phone about the crash and headed to the scene.

Not a message from one of the passengers, an alert. Probably a Tesla or some other always-connected electric vehicle.

[–] Chulk@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah I noticed that little detail too. Definitely seems like a newer car.

We already know that these vehicles spy on us using mics and sensors that phone home. We also know that some manufacturers allow users to summon their car and/or remotely disable the car. But, I think a capability that hasn't been fully revealed to us yet is the ability for manufacturers and (presumably intelligence/law enforcement agencies) full remote takeover of some of these vehicles. I think that we've gotten a sneak peak with Waymos and their ability to have someone in the Philippines get them "unstuck." It wouldn't surprise me if Teslas, for instance, had the same feature.

[–] pivot_root@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But, I think a capability that hasn't been fully revealed to us yet is the ability for manufacturers and (presumably intelligence/law enforcement agencies) full remote takeover of some of these vehicles.

Assuming it is a Tesla, if they do, it's likely only implemented in a targeted OTA update package. Tesla's regular firmware packages are heavily scrutinized by white-hats for datamining and jailbreaking purposes, and it would be far too risky to leave something like that accessible to people with reverse engineering experience.

[–] Chulk@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I did not know that stuff was available to the public to scrutinize. Interesting.

[–] pivot_root@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

It's not. But as with any computer, if someone has physical access, they can extract compiled code and reverse engineer it.

I mentioned Tesla specifically because there's enough interest in reverse engineering their cars that it would be unlikely for them to be able to slip something like that in without it getting quickly noticed.

[–] emmy67@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why complicate things? He was probably being chased.

[–] Chulk@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

We have a group of arrogant tech oligarchs who are embedded in a fascist government. They've already shown that they're chomping at the bit to try out new surveillance toys. I imagine that it's far simpler/cleaner for them to exploit some vulnerability or built-in back door that makes it look like a reckless teen crashed his own car.

[–] emmy67@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Yeh but ice was already onto him. I just expect it's easier to use his convenient already in place hit squad

[–] fox2263@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Curious