By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-12 07:28:38 | Updated at 2025-03-12 13:10:43
6 hours ago
A friend of three college students who were killed in a fiery Cybertruck crash has told of the haunting request his friend made before dying behind the wheel.
Soren Dixon, Jack Nelson and Krysta Tsukahara, all 19 years old, died in the crash in Piedmont, California, at 3am on November 27.
Four months on from the fatal accident, Matthew Riordan is still reminded of his friend's eerie final plea, asking to be dropped off at the vehicle he ultimately died in.
'Soren did not seem drunk at the time, his speech was normal and so was his walking,' he said of their final moments together.
'Soren pleaded with me to (drive him to) get the Cybertruck.'
The group had been at a Thanksgiving get-together with his high school friends with the alcohol flowing freely. But as later toxicology would reveal, so did drugs, including cocaine.
But as Dixon pleaded for Riordan to drive him to pick up the family's Tesla Cybertruck, he did so willingly - setting the tragedy into motion.
Dixon ultimately got behind the wheel of the Cybertruck but his reactions were so dulled after consuming a lethal cocktail of drink and drugs he was unable to navigate the sharp curves of Hampton Avenue.
Matthew Riordan, a friend of three college friends who died in a fiery Tesla Cybertruck crash is haunted by a plea made by one of his friend in the hours before the crash
According to investigators, Dixon failed to slow down on a bend in the road and accelerated straight into a tree and retaining wall.
Riordan who was following just behind, was the first to come upon the wreckage that was already engulfed in flames.
Inside, Dixon, Tsukahara, Nelson, and passenger Jordan Miller were trapped, some barely conscious, others screaming.
'I could hear Krysta yelling and the car saying 'crash detected,' Riordan recounted to investigators and detailed in court records.
'I went back to the broken window and yelled for them to try to get out at this window … Krysta tried to come up, sticking her head (out) from the back, I grabbed her arm to try and pull her towards me, but she retreated because of the fire.'
The Cybertruck's futuristic doors refused to open. Riordan pulled for dear life: 'I pulled for a few seconds, but nothing budged at all … I then tried the button on the windshield of Jordan's door, then Krysta's door', but nothing opened.
With his bare hands, Riordan struck the windows but the armored glass were no match.
As desperation mounted, he grabbed a five-foot-long tree branch and swung it '10-15 times' until, finally, the passenger window cracked and shattered.
Soren Dixon, 19, was drunk and high on cocaine and meth when he drove too fast around a bend and crashed into a tree, killing himself and two friends. But he had pleaded to drive
The Tesla EV jumped a curb and crashed into a tree, then burst into flames
Through a tiny breach, he managed to pull a barely conscious Miller to safety.
But for Dixon, Tsukahara, and Nelson the vehicle's inferno was too much for Riordan to help any further.
The Alameda County Coroner's Office confirmed that Dixon's blood alcohol content was 0.195% - more than twice the legal limit for a fully legal adult driver, and nearly 20 times the 0.01% limit for his age.
Not only was Dixon drunk, but cocaine and methamphetamines were found in his blood.
According to court documents and police accounts, Dixon, the son of a wealthy Piedmont family, was among eight or nine friends who had recently graduated and gathered on the evening of November 26 after coming back home from universities.
As the group mingled in the home that night, Soren appeared to be insistent that he be able to go for a drive after it was all over.
The special investigative unit of the CHP is continuing to probe the crash alongside a parallel investigation from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
All four of those involved in the crash were sophomore students at universities across the country and had been friends since high school.
Nelson and Dixon were stars on the Piedmont HS lacrosse team and Nelson also played junior varsity football and varsity soccer with Miller.
The vehicle crashed around 3am on November 27, 2024, in leafy Piedmont in Alameda County
Jack Nelson (pictured) and Dixon were stars on the Piedmont HS lacrosse team and Nelson also played junior varsity football and varsity soccer
Krysta Tsukahara, 19, was killed along with two friends in a Tesla Cybertruck crash in Piedmont, east of Oakland
Jordan Miller, 20, was pulled alive from the SUV and seriously burned, but survived after several surgeries and a long hospital stay
People visit a memorial displayed for victims of a Tesla Cybertruck crash in Piedmont
Photos of Tsukahara and her friends are pinned to a tree near the crash site
Dixon continued playing lacrosse at the University of Southern California and Nelson studied at the University of Colorado Boulder and joined the Sigma Nu fraternity.
Tsukahara was on the school's golf team and competed around the state, and was studying at Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.
Miller was a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin, where his older sister also studied.
All four of the teens came from wealthy families whose homes were worth several million dollars each.
