>
The wife of a Pasadena doctor accused of the attempted murder of her family has told the paramedics who rescued them that her husband intentionally threw his Tesla off a 250-foot cliff.
Dharmesh A. Patel, 42, was booked into the San Mateo County Maguire Correctional Center in California and faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and child abuse.
Patel’s wife, who remains hospitalized, told paramedics that he “intentionally tried to kill us” after they rappelled down the cliff to rescue the family, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
She said very simply that this was not an accident. We believe the evidence establishes the necessary intent to kill,” Wagstaffe told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Patel’s transfer to jail comes after he also spent three weeks in hospital, having been seriously injured in the crash.
He was scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, but his lawyer asked for a delay until February 9, which the judge granted. The judge also granted the prosecution’s request not to post bail and ordered Patel to stay away from his family.
Patel’s attorney, Josh Bentley, did not respond to AP’s request for comment.
The wife of Dharmesh A. Patel, 41, told paramedics that he intentionally drove his car off a cliff in California with the entire family inside.
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
The remains of the Tesla are shown at the bottom of the cliff.
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 two children, ages four and seven, survived without serious injury.
Although he has been charged with attempted murder, prosecutors last week were seeking to rule out the possibility that the car’s brakes were malfunctioning. Speculation that Tesla might have been in autonomous driving mode was also dismissed.
Have the brakes failed? Did the brakes work? Were there other mechanical failures that prevented you from stopping the vehicle? 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.
Patel was arrested after California Highway Patrol investigators “developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act,” the agency said.
Wagstaffe said his office was still trying to determine why Patel drove off the cliff. Patel has not spoken to investigators since the Jan. 2 crash, Wagstaffe said.
We are investigating what led to this. Was there depression or something else? Wagstaffe said. ‘It wasn’t just that he was trying to kill them, he was also trying to kill himself.’
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 is being held at a California correctional facility.
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.