Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... A local mother is taking Tesla to court after her 20-year-old son was burned alive in his car that had defective electric doors, she alleges in the lawsuit. Easton woman Jacquelyn Tremblett has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Boston federal court against Tesla after her son, Samuel, was trapped in his burning car and dialed 911 begging for help. The “unreasonably dangerous design” of the electric doors caused his death, the suit claims. Last Oct. 29, his Model Y Tesla veered across Route 138 in Easton, crashed into a tree and burst into flames. Samuel told 911 dispatchers that he was stuck in his car, which was on fire. “I can’t breathe. It’s on fire. Help. Please. I’m going to die,” Tremblett said, according to the 911 tape. “I’m dying. Help. Help.” First responders found a heavily damaged blue Tesla in flames in a wooded area 20 feet from the road, according to the Bristol County DA’s office. Officers reported four explosions during the first 10 minutes that they were on scene. Unable to open the doors, Samuel was trapped in the car, and he died from heat thermal injuries and smoke inhalation before he could be rescued, according to the suit. The wrongful death lawsuit includes details of at least 15 people who have died since 2016 in Tesla vehicles after being trapped inside by the electric doors. “How could Tesla keep selling vehicles that they know trap people inside their cars after a crash?” said Samuel’s mother, Jacquelyn. “They could have fixed it, but they refused. Now my son is dead after suffering unmercifully. “The people who did this must face consequences and the public needs to know how dangerous Tesla vehicles are in a crash,” she added. Samuel was a student at Syracuse University with a modeling career, and as a fashion designer, he had launched a clothing line. Jacquelyn’s attorney, Andrew Nebenzahl, said the company has ignored horrific crashes and entrapments. “This young man died begging for help,” Nebenzahl said. “As we stated in the complaint, Tesla knew about this defect for years and, despite being warned by Tesla engineers, they refused to change the door handle’s design. To this day, they continue to manufacture and sell defective vehicles, putting profits over customer safety with impunity.” The lawsuit notes that CEO Elon Musk in a 2018 first quarter earnings call said Tesla is “absolutely hardcore about safety. You know, we go to great lengths to make the safest car in the world.” “A lot of people think safety is boring, but not Tesla. … Yeah, I mean, really, honestly, the top reason to refer a friend to buying Tesla is it’s going to keep your friend safe,” Musk added back then. But that’s not the case at all, according to the mother’s lawyer. The suit alleges that Tesla “carelessly, negligently, unskillfully, with gross negligence designed, manufactured, and marketed dangerously defective vehicles.” “Despite repeated concerns from Tesla engineers, Mr. Musk insisted that the vehicles have only sleek door handles which could only be operated electronically,” the lawsuit reads. “The defect in this design is that an electrical failure resulting from a frontal crash prevents the electronic door handles from operating. “In many Model Y vehicles, there either is no manual external override mechanism and the interior manual release is in an inconspicuous location without readily identifiable ’emergency exit’ markings, thereby trapping the occupants inside the vehicle,” the suit adds. The lawsuit lists the numerous reports of people being trapped in burning Tesla vehicles. For instance, a man driving a Tesla Model S in 2016 crashed near downtown Indianapolis. He was reportedly seen alive after the crash but couldn’t get out of the vehicle. He was extricated from the vehicle about 20 minutes after the crash, but he died due to heat thermal injuries. In another case, a man lost control of his Tesla Model S in Florida, and he hit a tree. The vehicle caught fire, and he was burned alive. A cop nearby reportedly witnessed the accident and went to help, but the door handles were allegedly retracted — preventing the police officer from opening the doors. The Herald reached out to Tesla for a comment on the lawsuit. Tesla did not immediately respond with a statement. A Tesla Model Y (Herald file)