Chilling reason California doctor Dharmesh Patel, 42, ‘tried to kill his wife and two children’ by driving their Tesla off 250ft Devil Slide’s cliff
The California doctor accused of purposefully driving his Tesla off a 230-foot Devil Slide cliff thought he was protecting his family, a psychologist testified.
Dharmesh Patel, 42, suffered a psychotic episode and feared his two children would be trafficked for sex, said Dr. Mark Patterson, an expert witness called by Patel’s attorney Wednesday.
“It was paranoid and a kind of delusion that he acted on at the time to protect his family from a worse fate,” Patterson told the court.
‘He was concerned that his children were at risk of being kidnapped, possibly for sexual abuse. … There were concerns about the explosion of fentanyl in this country and the war in Ukraine.”
Patel pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder after his white 2021 Tesla Model Y veered off the Pacific Coast Highway south of San Francisco and plunged off the cliff on January 2, 2023.
Dharmesh Patel, 42, accused of purposefully driving his Tesla off a 250-foot Devil Slide cliff, thought he was protecting his family, psychologist testified
The Pasadena radiologist’s children, ages four and seven, and his wife Neha Patel, 41, were in the car and an official said it was an “absolute miracle” that they made it out alive
Patel suffered a psychotic episode and feared his two children were being trafficked for sex, said Dr. Mark Patterson, an expert witness called by Patel’s attorney Wednesday.
Patterson was the first witness called Wednesday morning, reports said San Francisco Chronicle.
He diagnosed Patel with a major depressive disorder with a single episode of psychotic features and anxiety after meeting him twelve times.
The psychologist said Patel’s psychosis peaked in the days before the car crash, adding that he had heard footsteps and thought he was being followed.
Patterson said he believed the 42-year-old was eligible for treatment under the Mental Health Diversion Act. He said: ‘I see him as someone who is highly motivated and amenable to treatment.
He was no longer delusional when he was held without bail in the San Mateo County Jail, Patterson testified, adding, “he still feels a lot of remorse.”
Patterson’s psychosis was the focus of Wednesday’s hearing, as charges against him would be dropped if he were granted a reprieve and completed two years of treatment.
Dr. James Armontrout, the defense’s second witness, diagnosed Patel with a “major depressive disorder with psychotic features that is currently in remission.”
He also said Patel met the requirements for a mental health diversion, which he and his legal team applied in July last year.
The case will return to court on May 2, where San Mateo County prosecutors are expected to call their witness.
Judge Susan Jakubowski will determine near the end of the hearing whether Patel has a mental illness contributing to the alleged murder, and where he poses a danger to public safety.
The diversion is part of a new California state program aimed at preventing defendants with mental illness from being incarcerated.
The disease must be treatable within the duration of the ineligibility, which in Patel’s case would be two years as he is charged with a criminal offence.
Neha Patel, the doctor’s wife, told investigators after the crash that her husband was depressed and had stated that he planned to crash the group.
Neha Patel (pictured) told investigators after the crash that her husband was depressed and had stated he planned to crash the group
Dharmesh Patel (pictured in February 2023) stands in an orange jumpsuit in a San Mateo County courtroom
Court records show Neha, 41, told a California Highway Patrol officer, “He’s a doctor. He said he was going to drive off the cliff. He drove away on purpose.’
Witnesses backed up that story, saying they did not see the car try to stop as it flew off the cliff onto a rocky beach.
Patel survived with only minor injuries to his leg and foot, while Neha suffered more serious injuries from the crash.
The couple’s seven-year-old child was seriously injured and their four-year-old escaped with only bruises. Both children were released from the hospital within weeks.
The radiologist had initially claimed he was not at fault and that his Tesla had tire failure on the day of the crash.
He said he stopped three times at gas stations to pump air into the tires and the tire pressure light came on just before they went off the cliff.
The wreckage of the Tesla is depicted at the bottom of the cliff
In June last year, the doctor was banned from practicing medicine after being called “an alarming danger to the public” by the medical board.
Regulators argued that the ban was necessary because Patel had an “impairment in the cognitive skills necessary to safely practice medicine.”
In a statement to the Mercury News, the medical board said Patel could not practice “under any circumstances” while the case was still open.
“The ban on practicing medicine will remain in effect until the order is modified by the court or the criminal case against him is concluded,” the statement said.
Despite Neha’s insistence that her husband deliberately drove their family off a cliff, Patel’s lawyer said she did not want her husband to be prosecuted.
The lawyer’s statements were dismissed by Wagstaffe, who said Neha’s statements after the crash support the attempted murder charges.
“She said very simply that this was not an accident. We believe the evidence demonstrates the necessary intent to kill,” Wagstaffe told the San Francisco Chronicle.
A lawyer representing Neha said she is expected to address the court next month.