Unless there is shown to be a physical defect or fault that prevented the brakes engaging, I am inclined to believe the driver is at fault.
But in this case, the problem lasted long enough for the driver to call the police, and a convoy of police vehicles to escort him for some 15 minutes.
To me it sounds like the driver's reaction was calm and controlled, with plenty of time to assess the situation. Another report on the same incident [1] says the driver tried the park button, the engine off button, police got advice from engineers, they even tried passing the car key to another car. And that the dash showed "nine warning lights."
Given these facts, it seems very unlikely the driver was, for example, confusing the accelerator and the brake, or failing to press the brake sufficiently hard.
[1] https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/motors/11320530/electric-ve...
https://www.twincities.com/2010/02/23/a-lexus-barreling-out-...
I could imagine someone making a mistake and accidentally pressing the wrong pedal, etc., but it seems very unlikely that after 15 minutes at 15mph in a police convoy, the guy still couldn’t work out how to press the brake pedal properly.
What about an electronic defect?
That's the interesting part to me - you're relying on the data logs from a system for court which in theory might not match what actually happened and may not leave an observable physical defect. For example but not specific to this case, if there was an error that actuated a brake through the traction control system but it wasn't recorded due to the initiating error.
> Police worked with their engineers and tried everything to bring the EV motor to a stop.
Your thoughts?