iPhone crash detection leads police to teens shot in a parked car that had no signs of an accident

Apple’s crash detection feature led police to two teenagers shot in a car in Georgia, authorities said.

Officers responded to the collision alert but found no signs of a car crash when they arrived on the scene in Douglasville at 3:30 a.m. ET on October 12.

Instead, they found Beatriz Vega, 17, and Roberto Deleon, 19, in the front seats of the vehicle parked on West Stewart Mill Road.

The iPhone crash detection feature is designed to ‘“serious car accidents” — including rollovers and head-on crashes, side impacts and rear-end crashes — and connect users to emergency services, Apple said.

It is currently unclear what caused the iPhone to erroneously send a crash alert.

But it’s possible that the sudden, powerful impact of a gunshot could be interpreted by the phone’s sensors as a serious car accident.

Vega and Deleon were transported to a hospital but later died from their injuries.

Police are currently investigating this case as a double murder. Detectives have not released whether they are pursuing a suspect, identified a shooter or established a motive.

Officials have not released any further details about the incident.

iPhones use several built-in tools to accurately detect a car crash, including a gyroscope, high-g accelerometer, GPS, barometer, microphone, and advanced motion algorithms.

When the device detects a serious crash, it will sound an alarm and display a warning for 10 seconds. A slider appears at the bottom of the screen that allows the victim to call emergency services directly.

If the victim does not interact with the iPhone within 10 seconds of displaying the alert, the 10-second countdown begins. When it ends, the device will automatically contact emergency services.

When emergency services respond, the dispatcher hears the following message from Siri: “The owner of this ‌iPhone‌ was in a serious car accident and is not responding to his phone.” ‌

Siri also reports the approximate location of the crash and a search radius.

But it’s not exactly a perfect system.

Other activities, such as riding a roller coaster, taking a hard fall, or experiencing sudden, intense changes in motion (such as riding over very bumpy terrain), are known to trigger this safety feature and cause false positive alerts.

For example, emergency management has received several false crash reports from King Island, an amusement park near Cincinnati, Ohio, because people were taking their iPhones on rides.

And earlier this week, the local fire department of Suamico, Wisconsin, reported receiving false crash reports caused by people accidentally leaving their iPhones on their vehicles and then driving away, causing the phone to suddenly fall to the ground.

Other activities, such as riding a roller coaster, taking a hard fall, or experiencing sudden, intense changes in motion, have been known to trigger this safety feature

It appears that this type of false alert occurred in the early morning hours of October 12, as there was no evidence of a crash when officers arrived at the scene of Vega and Deleon’s murders.

Detectives say they are actively following leads and reviewing evidence to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

The sheriff’s office has asked the public to release any information they have about the case. They can contact the lead investigator, Michael Aziz, at 770-920-3923 or by emailing maziz@sheriff.douglas.ga.us.

GoFundMe accounts have been set up for both Vega and Deleon’s funeral expenses.

Vega describes her as a “bright light” who was “known for her kindness, laughter and unwavering support for those she loved.”

“Beatriz was taken from us far too soon in a tragic incident that has left everyone who knew her in shock and mourning,” the GoFundMe reads.