Doctor accused of trying to kill his wife and children by throwing Tesla off a cliff is jailed
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The Pasadena doctor charged with the attempted murder of his wife and two young children by intentionally driving his Tesla off a 250-foot cliff is behind bars.
Dharmesh A. Patel, 42, has been booked into the San Mateo County Jail in California and is due in court Monday afternoon, according to inmate records.
Patel is being held at the Maguire Correctional Center and faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and child abuse.
His transfer to jail and scheduled court appearance comes after he spent three weeks in the hospital after he was seriously injured in the accident. It is not clear if his wife and children are still in the hospital or if they have been released.
Dharmesh A. Patel, 41, was initially arrested on suspicion of attempting to murder his wife Neha, 41, and their four-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter after allegedly making a U-turn on Devil’s Slide in California on January 2
Miraculously, the family of four survived the fall to the water’s edge without sustaining life-threatening injuries. The wrecked Tesla Model Y is shown after the crash
Patel is accused of intentionally driving his white Tesla Model Y off a cliff known as Devil’s Slide near San Francisco on Monday during a trip north.
Miraculously, all four family members, Patel, his wife Neha, and their four-year-old and seven-year-old children, survived without serious injury.
Although he has been charged with attempted murder, prosecutors last week were seeking to rule out the possibility that there was some kind of brake failure on the car.
Initially, it was speculated that the Tesla might have been in an autonomous driving mode, but that has now been ruled out as well.
Have the brakes failed? Did the brakes work? Were there other mechanical failures that prevented you from stopping the vehicle? District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told the Los Angeles timeyes. Let’s check the car from top to bottom.
The prosecutor’s office was still in the early stages of the investigation, he added.
The rescue effort at dusk on Monday January 2 after emergency teams realized the family was alive.
The car was traveling north on Highway 1 near San Francisco around 10 a.m. Monday, January 2.
Sheriff’s deputies are working to free the car after the family was airlifted to safety.
Patel works as a radiologist at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Pasadena.
He has since been transferred to San Mateo Medical Center, Wagstaffe said, but was not to be formally registered until he finished receiving treatment.
Troopers were dispatched around 10 a.m. Jan. 2, following reports that a vehicle had veered off a cliff on Highway 1, about 20 miles south of San Francisco. The steep, rocky and winding coastal area is known as Devil’s Slide.
Fire chief Brian Pottenger told reporters: “We go there all the time so the cars go off the cliff and they never live.” This was an absolute miracle.
The car was initially said to have flipped over several times, however experts have since raised doubts, arguing that the heavy batteries located in the Tesla’s floor would have prevented it from rolling.
There was no guardrail where the sedan went off the cliff, authorities said.
Patel was seen speeding north on Highway 1 and is speculated to have made a sharp turn before reaching the Tom Lantos Tunnel, which is where the Tesla went off the road, first into an area of dirt and then down the cliff
Robin Johnson, who called 911 after seeing the accident, recalled: ‘Wow, you’re driving extremely fast to take that exit. You’re not even supposed to go up that way.
“And I can see in my rearview mirror that this car just went over the edge and straight down.”
The huge difference in level from the road to the accident site. Family members were airlifted to safety.
Rescue teams had to rappel down the side of the cliff, while others used helicopters to try to reach the family.
Around 30 to 50 rescuers arrived at the place where someone in the car was initially assumed to be dead.
A helicopter and stunt teams were required to rappel down the cliff to the car. It wasn’t until hours later that rescuers discovered the four conscious and alert family members in the car.
The children were first pulled out, through a rear window, and dragged off the cliff by hand in a rescue basket using a pulley.
The doctor and his wife suffered more serious injuries and had to be airlifted out and then taken directly to hospital.
Neighbors expressed shock after learning of the allegations against Patel, describing his family as ‘idyllic’.
Roger Newmark, who lives several houses down from the family on a tree-lined street in Pasadena, told CBS: “They are the sweetest couple and they have two great little kids.”
The hospital where Patel works as a radiologist also issued a statement after the accident.
“Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is deeply saddened to learn of a traffic incident involving one of our physicians and his family,” he said.
“We are very grateful that there were no serious injuries. We will not respond further as this incident is under investigation.”
According to an online profile, Patel graduated from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Michigan and has been practicing for more than a decade.